■  HV 

■  995 

■  C61J13 

A^s 

A= — --^ 

0  5 

u  ^S 

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3—1 

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8 
3 


Jacobs 

A 

Ristor;-   of   Jod' 

s   irVork 

Through  His  People 

for   the 

Thornwell  Orphs 

inage 

/  ", 


^■^ 


/ 


TllORNWEI  I.  OKI'IIAXS'  SKMIXARY. 


J 


Almighty  God  Careth  for  Me. 


HISTORY 


OF 


GOD'S  WORK  THROUGH  HIS  PEOPLE 


FOR   THE 


THORKWELL  ORPHANAGE, 


BEING 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  A  GRATEFUL  HEART. 


ClINTON,  S.  C: 

THORNWEIL  ORPHANAGE  PRESS. 

1888. 


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HV 


cyj/s 


INTRODUCING  THE  WRITER. 

I  am  constrained  to  put  the  story  of  God's  work  for 

the  Thornwell  Orphanage  into  the  shape  of  a  personal 

narrative  because  it  is  so  interwoven  with  my  personal 

i2     experience  that  there  is  no  other  way  to  do  it.     But  I 

"     am  to  tell  you  not  of  what  I  have  done,  but  o£  what  the 

^     Lord  has  done  for  the  cause  that  I  love  best  of  any  in 

'?     this  world. 
J.J 

-*  I  propose  to  let  you,  my  friendly  reader,  into  the 
inner  secrets  of  a  histoiy  that  is  not  full  of  startling 
?«"  adventure,  or  sudden  surprises,  or  wonderful  opportuni- 
^  ties,  but  deals  with  what  may  be  the  experience  of  any 
§  one  who  will  walk  in  the  simple,  plain  path  of  that 
duty  that  comes  to  all  alike. 

^  George  Muller,  in  the  wonderful  record  of  his  great 
"  work  in  Bristol,  England,  declares  that  for  his  success 
o  he  depended  on  pra^^er  simply  and  only  ;  that  he  made 
the  Lord  alone  the  recipient  of  the  cry  of  his  complaint ; 
and  that  his  great  Orphan-Houses  are  not  a  testimony 
of  the  love  of  God's  people  for  the  orphan,  but  of  God's 
willingness  to  answer  prayer.  How  few  there  are  that 
can  attain  to  so  magnificent  faith !  Yet  that  such  is 
possible,  his  life-work  wonderfull}^  demonstrates. 


448S64 


ca 


Preface. 

The  lesson  to  be  taught  in  tfie  pages  that  follow,  is 
slightly  different.  They  will  not  only  testify  that 
God  is  a  prayer-hearing  God,  but  that  also  He  has  given 
His  children  a  part  in  the  work  of  his  Church.  Labor, 
to  be  acceptable  to  God,  must  have  these  qualities :  it 
must  be  built  on  faith  ;  baptized  with  prayer  ;  wrought 
in  humility,  self-denial  and  patience.  To  all  men,  such 
labor  is  possible — even  the  humblest.  The  success  that 
follows  is'  a  testimony  that  the  blessed  Saviour  whom 
we  serve  is  the  living  God. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BY   WAY  OF  GETTING  THE  STORY  BEGUN. 

T  is  one  of  the  most  precious  recollections  of  my 
life  that  I  was  ushered  into  this  world  amid  the 
surroundings  of  a  Christian  home.  I  have  often 
ul  heard  men  boast  from  the  pulpit  of  the  vileness  of 
their  lives,  from  which  the  grace  of  God  saved 
them.  Even  so  noble  a  man  as  George  Muller 
holds  himself  as  a  brand  plucked  from  the  burn- 
ing. God  does  not  call  upon  us  to  publish  our 
shame  abroad  in  this  manner,  even  as  He  does 
not  approve  the  Pharisee's  prayer,  "Lord  I  thank 
thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,"  or  even  of  the 
young  man's  glad  assertion,  "All  these  have  I  kept 
from  my  youth  up."  I  gratefully  thank  God  that 
amid  the  innumerable  things  I  have  to  thank  Him  for, 
one  is  that  he  shielded  my  early  life  from  great 
sin,  and  brought  me  at  a  very  early  age  to  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  think  his  protecdng  care  is  as 
wonderfully  manifested  in  covenng  the  heads  of  his 
little  children  from  every  storm  as  in  resuscitadng  black- 
ened souls  which  the  lightning  of  sin  has  scarred  and 
scorched. 


6  ''Ai7t  I  My  Brother's  Reef  erf 

I  remember  when  I  was  but  a  little  lad  how  bravel}'' 
I  could  lie  alone  in  the  night,  banishing  the  goblins  of 
the  dark  that  an  excited  imagination  and  a  naturally 
timid  disposition  would  conjure  up,  by  appl3ang  to  my 
heart  this  thought, — "The  Lord  is  the  strength  of  my 
life,  of  whom  shall  I  be  afraid?"  Nor  has  any  thought 
been  so  strong  as  this  through  all  the  years  that  have 
Ibllowed.  I  have  been  in  perils  oft,  but  amid  every 
danger  from  the  flash  of  lightning,  the  wild  beast  of  the 
forest,  the  storm-beat  sea,  or  the  mountain's  slippery 
pathway,  r  have  felt  that  "  The' Lord  careth  tor  me    " 

Reader,  that  sentence  I  wish  to  have  in  your  lips  as 
well  as  mine.  It  is  the  orolden  thread  that  binds  the 
pages  of  this  book  together.  It  is  the  voice  that  is 
uttered  from  ever^r  stone  that  makes  up  the  buildings  of 
the  Thorn  well  Orphanage. 

Once  there  came  to  me  this  thought : — It  God  cares 
forme,  ought  I  not  to  care  for  others?  The  first  question 
that  man  ever  put  to  God  was  this,  "Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper?"  The  last  command  ever  given  in  holy  writ 
answered  it,  "Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come!"  It 
was  that  answer  that  lead  me  as  a  boy  to  work  in  the 
Sunday-school,  and  while  yet  beardless,  to  endeavor  to 
tell  others  of  the  goodness  of  God.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  it  was  that  which  lead  to  tliis  work  for  oiphans. 
The  Thomwell  Orphanage  has  set  to  itself  this  delight- 


Thormvcll.  7 

fill  task, — to  show  to  the   Church   its   duty    to   God's 
helpless  children,  because  he  careth  for  us. 

After  graduating  at  Charleston  College  in  1861.  I 
went,  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  to  the  Theological 
Seminary.  Columbia,  as  a  student  for  the  Presbyterian 
mmistry.  The  Professors  at  that  time  were,  the 
modest,  but  withal  profoundly  learned  Howe,  the  pol- 
ished Leland,  Woodrow  the  accurate  and  thoughtful, 
Adger,  a  yery  Nestor  in  things  ecclesiastical,  Cohen, 
the  dispenser  of  Hebrew  roots,  and  last,  and  though 
last,  yet  first,  Thorxwell,  idolized  by  us  all  as  the 
Augustine,  the  Calvin,  the  Melancthon — all  in  one — o\ 
the  Presbyterian  Church. 

On  the  2nd  day  of  August,  1862,  I  made  this  entry 
in  my  journal.  I  was  not  then  a  man  as  the  law  counts, 
but  the  impressions  of  early  life  become  the  profounder 
conyictions  of  maturer  years  : 

"The  sad  news  reached  us  this  day,  of  the  death  on 
yesterday,  at  Charlotte,  N.  C,  of  Dr.  James  H.  Thorn- 
well.  As  I  write  this  sentence,  my  eyes  are  wet  with 
tears  and  my  heart  depressed  with  sorrow.  Confession 
like  this  is  but  the  confession  of  many  another  through- 
out this  South-land.  The  greatest  man  in  the  South- 
ern Confederacy  is  dead.  I  saw  him  last  just  before 
the  exercises  of  the  Seminary  closed  for  this  session. 
Laying    his    hand    on    m}'  head,  he    said    solemnly. 


8  Dead,    Yet  Living. 

"  G(jd  bless,  3'ou,  Bro.  Jacobs,  and  make  you  useful." 
I  will  prize  these  words  as  the  blessing  of  the  greatest 
man  that  I  have  ever  known.  What  a  cause  of  re- 
gret to  the  world  is  this  death!  He  was  nature's 
nobleman.  A  more  talented,  and  yet  mdre  humble 
man,  \  never  heard  of.  A  more  genial  companion, 
a  sincerer  Christian,  could  not  exist.  Dr.  Thc)rnwell 
is  fit  for  Heaven,  and  now  he  is  sitting  down  with 
Luther,  Calvin  and  Knox  ;  with  Paul  and  Peter  ;  nay, 
more,  with  the  holy  and  ever  beloved  treasure  of  his 
heart,  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant  I  " 

The  death  of  Dr.  Thornwell  was  felt  by  all  his 
students  as  a  personal  loss.  When  ten  years  after- 
ward, I  suggested  this  name  as  the  one  our  Institution 
should  honor,  I  felt  as  if  it  were  almost  a  sacrilege  to 
connect  a  name  so  dear  to  my  heart  with  a  fledgeling 
that  the  world  thought  would  die  in  its  infancy.  The 
name  of  Thornwell  has  a  ring  in  the  ears  of  his  old 
students  that  is  unlike  that  of  an}'  other  name.  We 
think  of  him  as  the  founder  of  modern  Presbyterian 
modes  of  thinking. 


"TTT 


CHAPTER  II. 

A  VILLAGE  CHURCH  AT  THE  BOTTOM  OF  IT. 

In  1864,  the  little  village  of  Clinton  some- 
times asked  itself  if  it  were 
a  village  at  all.  About 
77  thirty  families  composed 
the  hamlet.  The  worn  out 
and  broken  down  Laurens  Railway  drag- 
ged its  slow  length  through  it  from  west  to 
east,  riie  best  men  in  the  village  were  soldiers  on 
the  Potomac  or  about  Charleston.  Business  was 
absolutely  dead.  The  only  life  in  the  village  was  giv- 
en it  by  a  few  godly  women  and  a  handful  of 
Charleston  refugees.  It  contained  a  small  Methodist 
Church,  a  Presbyterian  Church  with  47  members, 
including  soldiers,  a  school-house,  and  two  Baptist 
churches  in  the  suburbs,  about  four  miles  away. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  the  tercentenary  of  John 
Calvin's  death  (1564),  Presbytery  met  to  ordain  me 
Pastor  of  this  church,  and  of  the  churches  of  Shady 
Grove  and  Duncan's  Creek,  and  on  the  next  da}^  the 
28th,  I  was  formally  placed  in  charge  of  the  church. 


lo  Beginning  to  Live. 

I  found  a  thoroughly  disorganized  community,  a 
church  that  aUhough  it  was  nine  years  old,  had  not 
yet  learned  what  it  meant,  to  be  a  church  of  Christ. 
The  town  itself  had  a  very  unsavory  name  abroad, 
and  was  proclaimed  by  its  enemies  as  "  the  worst 
hole  in  South  Carolina."  Liquor  asserted  its  right 
to  rule.  Human  life  was  not  accounted  high  in 
value.  Only  a  few  days  before  the  ordination,  a 
murdered  man  was  found  on  the  church  grounds. 
But  there  were  some  of  God's  own  in  Clinton,  men 
and  women  with  backbone,  and  these  only  needed  a 
link  to  bind  them  together,  a  tool,  as  it  were,  with 
which  to  work,  in  order  to  pull  down  the  wrong,  and 
to  erect  in  its  stead  the  right. 

I  need  not  rehearse  the  eight  years  of  pastoral 
labor  that  followed.  First,  we  had  a  vigorous  sab- 
bath school  planted.  What  wondrous  changes  that 
school  has  wrought !  What  faithful  and  rewarded 
toil  has  been  bestowed  through  it  upon  our  young 
people.  The  prayer-meeting  followed  with  its  hal- 
lowing influences.  Then  the  church  began  to  leai-n 
to  give  of  its  substance,  a  thing  almost  unheard  of 
before.  Even  the  great  work  of  God  among  the 
heathen  had  often  met  the  sneer  of  "  Cui  bono?" 
Who  would  have  dreamed  in  those  days  that  our 
church  should  yet  strive  to  lead  its  sister  churches  of 


An  Enemy  Laid  Low.  1 1 

the  Presbytery  as  a   Missionary  churcli  and  should 
rejoice  to  send  one  of  its  own  sons  to  the  forefront? 

It  would  not  be  jutl  to  the  memory  of  those  days  to 
forget  how  bravely  the  Church  fought  on  the  side  of 
Temperance.  Sometimes  victory  was  snatched  from 
us  just  as  our  hands  touched  it,  but  we  knew  the 
power  of  the  Devil's  curse  of  drink.  The  gallant 
Bell  was  our  leader.  True  men  stood  with  him,  and 
at  last  after  fifteen  years  of  battle,  the  bar-rooms  were 
closed,  the  town  swept  of  its  vileness  as  though  a 
cyclone  had  struck  it,  and  the  keys  turned  in  the  lock 
of  a  Legislative  enactment. 

It  may  seem  a  little  strange,  but  it  is  nevertheless 
true,  that  in  those  days  our  church  needed  to  unite 
the  people  in  matters  of  temporal  progress.  Of 
course  she  must  provide  a  Cemetery  for  the  dead. 
But  she  also  did  her  part  in  giving  Railroads  to  the 
living.  It  IS  not  with  boasting  that  this  is  written, 
but  ordy  as  a  candid  fact  of  history,  that  Clinton  was 
made  a  town,  a  town  of  happy  homes,  by  the  Presby- 
terian Church. 

The  village  lies  at  an  altitude  of  800  feet  above  sea- 
level.  Mountain  breezes  fr'om  far-away  peaks  ?weep 
over  it.  Puve  water  and  good  health  is  the  rule.  I 
came  first  to  Clinton  because  of  these  things  needed 
by    an    enfeebled    constitution.     I    found    congenial 


X 


12  A  Proposition  Stated. 

spirits  among  my  congregation.  I  accepted  no  in- 
ducements to  go  away  because  I  loved  them.  I  was 
willing  to  share  their  poverty  and  suffer  lack  of  all 
things  with  them,  believing  that  the  time  would  come 
when  I  could  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  a  little 
village  church  could  be  made  a  tower  of  strength,  a 
blessing  to  those  within  it,  and  a  lighthouse  to  all  about 
it. 

Why  should  our  young  ministers  seek  for  fat  places 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God  ;  or  why,  with  ambitious  ideas 
lilled,  should  they  long  for  posts  of  honor  and  fame? 
It  should  content  us  to  work  just  where  the  Master 
puts  us,  trusting  Him  that  He  who  knows  all  our 
need,  will  give  us  fat  things  if  they  be  good  for  us, 
and  honor  and  fame  therewith,  if  they  be  for  His 
glory. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THEY  UNDERTOOK  TO  BUILD  AN  ORPHAN'S  HOME. 

1HAD  always  had  a  fondness  for  types.  In  earlier 
days  I  had  been  much  about  the  offices  of  the 
Charleston  Courie?-  and  the  Columbia  Daily  Caro- 
hniati,  serving  as  a  Reporter.  There  I  had  gained 
some  practical  knowledge  of  the  art,  but  it  was  not 
this  inborn  fondness  for  typography  that  induced  me 
in  1866  to  purchase  a  small  press  and  a  few  fonts  of 
type.  I  wished  to  have  some  means  of  laying  print- 
ed thoughts  before  my  people  and  the  community. 
The  True  Witness,  a  little  four- paged  weekly,  lived 
only  a  year.  In  1867  it  gave  way  to  an  agricultural 
paper,  controlled  by  my  brother.  In  187 1  the  agri- 
cultural feature  was  dropped,  the  name  was  changed 
to  Our  Monthly,  and  it  eventually  became  what  it 
is  now,  a  vehicle  for  religious  thought,  and  of  infor- 
mation about  the  work  we  were  tr3ang  to  do  as  a 
church  for  the  Master. 

I  found    Our  Monthly  an    invaluable    assistant. 
Through  its  columns  the  scheme  was  worked  up  for 


y 


14  Immanuel  Wichern. 

the  establishment  of  the  CHnton  High  School  (after- 
wards College)  Association,  which  has  since  done  so 
much  for  the  development  of  a  Presbyterian  College 
in  this  town. 

In  the  October  number,  1872,  of  Our  Monthly, 
the  same  in  which  the  announcement  was  made  of 
the  organization  of  the  Clinton  High  School  Asso- 
ciation, appeared  an  article  under  the  head  of 
"  Christ's  Little  Ones."     It  was  as  follows : 

"  In  1832,  a  noble-hearted  German,  Immanuel 
Wichern,  established  a  home  for  destitute  orphan 
children  on  a  plan  of  his  own.  He  was  opposed  to 
the  gathering  together  of  a  great  crowd  of  children 
in  one  Institution,  but  was  of  the  opinion  that  twenty- 
four  was  as  many  as  ought  to  be  crowded  into  one 
building.  He  was  also  of  the  opinion  that  the  home 
should  be  largely  self-supporting,  at  least  to  the 
extent  of  requiring  the  children  to  labor  on  the 
Rauhe  House  farm  and  in  the  shops  and  offices  con- 
nected with  it. 

"  Greatly  would  our  heart  delight  us  to  have  the 
same  experiment  tried  in  our  own  land  *  *  *  We 
proposed,  two  years  ago,  such  an  Institution  under 
the  fostering  care  of  the  Presbyterians  in  this  State. 
Is    there  love  enough  for   God's   orphan  children  to 


The  First  Step  Taken.  15 

enable    us    to    give  some  of    the    little    remnant    of 
our  former  wealth  for  this  noble  purpose?" 

This  article  was  the  result,  trifling  as  it  may  seem,  of 
six  months  of  prayer,  consultation  and  study.  The  very 
first  entry  in  the  records  of  the  Thornwell  Orphanage 
is  to  this  efliect : 

[  Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  Session,  Clinton 
Presbyterian  Church.] 

'•Sept.  I,  1872.  The  Moderator  stated  that  he  had 
received  a  letter  from  Dr.  J.  W.  Parker,  of  the 
Palmetto  Orphan-House,  inviting  this  church  to  co- 
operate in  maintaining  that  home.  During  the  dis- 
cussion which  ensued,  the  formation  of  an  orphan's 
home  under  Presbyterian  control,  to  be  located  in 
Clinton,  was  suggested.  Much  conversation  was 
held  on  this  pomt,  and  it  was  finally  resolved  that 
the  Pastor  should  draft  a  plan  to  be  presented  at 
the  next  meeting,  on  which  such  a  home  might  be 
established." 

Owing  to  the  sickness  of  the  Pastor  nothing  was 
done  till 

"  Oct.  20,  1872.  The  Pastor  presented  his  report 
in  regard  to  the  Orphans'  Home,  which  was  very 
fully  discussed  and  finally  adopted." 


1 6  The  Workers. 

Until  the  8th  of  Januaiy,  1873,  all  the  work  of  organ- 
ization was  carried  out  by  the  Session  of  the  Clinton 
Church,  but  as  it  was  deemed  best  that  another  organ- 
ization should  take  its  place,  on  the  8th  of  January,  the 
Board  of  Visitors  of  the  Thornwell  Orphanage,  was 
officially  organized  and  held  its  first  meeting. 

My  thoughts  go  up  with  sweet  gratitude  to  God 
for  the  noble  band  of  workers  that  on  that  day  put 
their  hand  to  the  wheel.  Foremost  among  us  was  the 
enthusiastic  Bell,  now  we  tmst,  among  the  gloritied 
saints  of  God.  There  were  the  Holmeses,  father  and 
son,  the  older  was  the  founder  of  the  Clinton  Church, 
the  younger  was  the  first  Principal  of  our  newly  organ- 
ized High  School.  There  were  also  with  us  the  ener- 
getic Phinney,  the  sagacious  Boozer,  the  quiet,  but 
faithful  Bailey,  the  God-fearing  Copeland,  the  three 
Youngs,  not  of  one  blood  according  to  the  flesh,  but 
one  in  faith  and  hope  and  good  works  ;  McClintock  and 
Foster,  the  aged  and  beloved  and  now  glorified  ;  Green, 
the  thoughtful  and  zealous  West.  There,  too,was  Blakely 
the  beloved.  Alas,  the  grave  has  closed  over  him.  His 
sun  set  at  midday.  There  was  Copeland  the  younger, 
wise  in  counsel,  Bailey  and  McCrar}^  on  whom  the 
mantle  of  our  sainted  Treasurer  fell.  And  aftenvards 
there  came  to  us  Lee  the  Learned,  and  Owings  the  true 
and  tried,  and  Watts  who  now  leads  the  orphan  lads  to 
weedy  battles.     Faithful  co-laborers  I  who  could  not  ac- 


I  

Now,  Brethren,  Forward!  ly 

complish  projects  for  the  Master  with  such  as  you  to  help? 
Month  by  month,  through  all  these  years  you  met  and 
worked  and  prayed.  Rain  did  not  hinder  you.  You 
came  when  sick  and  tired  and  busy.  You  asked  no 
glory  ;  no  reward ;  but  only  to  stand  by  your  Pastor,  as 
one  man,  and  like  Hur  and  Aaron  of  old,  to  hold  up 
his  hands,  when  he  was  ready  to  faint. 

I  remember  as  though  it  were  but  yesterday,  the  as- 
sembly of  this  band  of  workers  in  my  parlor.  The  plan 
was  presented.  The  time  came  to  vote  upon  it.  It  was  a 
solemn  moment.  I  told  the  brethren  present  that  if  they 
voted  Aye,  it  meant  that  I  and  they  must  cast  in  our  lot 
together  for  life  ;  that  we  were  the  least  among  the  thou- 
sands of  Israel,  that  neither  Pastor  nor  people  were 
known  to  the  Church,  that  our  poor  litde  congregation 
was  struggling  for  very  life,  having  just  called  its  Pastor 
for  all  his  time  ;  and  that  we  must  look  forward  to  years 
of  unremitting  toil.  There  was  this  to  encourage, — the 
cause  was  one  on  which  we  could  ask  God's  blessing, 
and  assuredly  if  we  asked,  we  should  receive.  The 
vote  w^as  taken.  Each  one  present  answered,  A3'e. 
And  our  dear  Bro.  Bell  said,  "  Now,  Brethren, 
foi'ward  I " 

A  few  davs  afterwards  Our  Monthly  published  the 
tidings.  Our  first  article  appeared  in  the  Sotithern 
Presbyterian.     The  world  knew-  that  <a  little  people  in 


i8  Waiting. 

Clinton  had  determined  to  lead  the  great  Synods  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  God's  people  ever}^- 
where  in  a  movement  to  extend  the  aid  of  the  Church  to  the 
widow  and  the  fatherless  ;  the  widow  indirectly  through 
her  children.  We  wondered  if  the  answer  would  be 
decisive. 

To  stand  upon  the  mountain-top  and  look  down  over 
the  vast  prospect,  one  is  overwhelmed  for  a  moment 
with  the  glorious  panorama.  It  seems  an  easy  thing  to 
have  thus  reached  that  high  pinnacle ;  but  to  stand  at 
the  mountain's  base  and  look  up  to  its  lofty  crags,  scan- 
ning the  innumerable  steps  and  besetting  dangers  that 
lie  between,  strikes  the  faint  heart  with  dismay.  Let 
not  him  that  putteth  off  his  armor  boast  as  him  that 
putteth  it  on ;  and,  yet,  poor  as  we  were,  we  dared  to 
boast !  *  We  dared  to  say  of  the  long  way  to  the 
mountain's  crest, —  "It  is  nothing!"  Our  soul  did 
make  her  boast  in  God  ;  and  each  one  of  us  said.  Where 
He  leads,  we  will  follow. 

One  of  our  earliest  circulars  closed  with  this  sentence, 
"  Dear  friend,  wherever  you  may  be,  pray  for  the  suc- 
cess of  our  Orphanage.  If  you  cannot  give  silver  and 
gold,  give  us  at  least  your  prayers.  If  you  pray  aright, 
God  will  turn  these  prayers  of  yours  into  silver  and 
gold,  for  He  has  the  treasury,  and  He  is  the  God  of  the 
fatherless." 


Called  to  Believe.  19 

And,  yet,  when  this  was  resolved  on,  and  when 
these  tnistful  words  were  written,  there  was  not  one 
dollar  in  the  treasury,  nor  promise  of  one.  It  is  easy  to 
believe  after  the  event.  We  were  called  to  believe,  and 
to  risk  our  all  upon  it,  where,  as  yet,  no  ray  betokened 
the  coming  sun. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  LITTLE  RED  LEDGER. 

There   lies  before  me  as  I  write,  a  little 
red  ledger  of  200  pages. 

The  hand  that  made  the  entries  irl  it  is 

now  silent  in  the  dust.    It  is  the  account  book 

|1i   of  Wm.  B.  Bell,  Treasurer.     On  that  first 


y 


day  of  October,  1872,    when  we   held  our 


If 


inform. al  meeting,  needing  something  for 
postage  and  printing,  we  chipped  in  our  dollars  to  the 
little  collection  basket.  On  this  first  page  I  find  this 
first  record,  Wm.  B.  Bell,  $1.00. 

I  turn  the  page,  and  now  the  accounts  of  the  Thorn- 
well  Orphanage  begin.  I  read,  Willie  Anderson,  50 
cts.  I  remember  it  all.  We  were  sitting  at  a  widow's 
fireside.  The  Orphanage  (  at  most  an  unknown  word ) 
was  the  topic.  Little  Willie  put  one  arm  on  m}^  shoul- 
der and  the  other  hand  fast  gripped  about  something  in 
my  lap.  "  Well,  Willie,  lad  !  what  have  you  there,  and 
what  is  it  all  about?"  He  blushed  and  opened  his 
hand,  and  there  la}-  in  the  orphan's  palm  that  silver 
half-dollar.  It  was  the  first  gift  that  came.  It  was  the 
first  drop  of  the  shower. 


The  Synod  Approves.  21 

I  can  cover  with  my  hand  every  entry  on  the  first 
page  of  this  ledger,  and  yet  it  is  the  record  of  /wo 
mont  It's  gifts!  Seventy-eight  dollars  and  sixty  cents  in 
all .  There  are  just  twenty-five  entries .  The  first  gift  by 
mail  is  James  McElroy,  of  Charleston.      Here  is   Dr. 

B.  Adger,  $5.00.  It  was  the  sole  return  for  the 
first  public  speech  I  ever  made  for  the  orphans. 
Scene :  Columbia  Church ;  the  Synod  in  session. 
Dear  Bro.  Riley  had  just  helped  us  much  with  this 
resolution, 

Resolved:  That  the  Synod  of  South  Carolina 
heartily  approves  of  the  proposition  to  establish  the 
Thornwell  Orphanage  under  the  care  of  the  Presby- 
terians of  this  State,  and  commends  it  to  the  Christ- 
ian   liberality   of  our   people. 

The  resolution  was  voted  in  by  a  few  feeble  ayes, — 
no  nays.  Then  our  dear  old  professor  rose  and 
backed  his  vote  with  his  dollars. 

On  that  same  little  page  I  find  that  there  were 
gifts  from  other  states  than  our  own ;  a  nameless 
friend  from  New  York,  another  from  Maryland ; 
three  from  Illinois,  one  from  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Strange  enough,  all  were  from  states  that  might  have 
been  called  the  hostile  North.  The  other  gifts  of 
those  two  months  were  mainly  from  our  little  village. 


22  Showers  of  Blessing. 

Friendship  Church,  in  Laurens  County,  was  the  first 
church  to  take  up  a  formal  collection. 

What  heart-stirring  thoughts  swarm  up  from  the 
pages  of  this  little  red  Ledger !  How  we  thumbed 
and  studied  those  pages  to  see  whether  we  with  our 
little  company  of  donors  could  turn  an  army  of  doubt- 
ers into  friends  !  What  searchings  of  heart !  What 
prayers  I  The  names  we  read,  too !  Of  this  first 
page  of  helpers,  heaven  has  reaped  a  harvest.  Twelve 
out  of  the  twenty -five  are  among  the  saints  of  God. 

But  the  year  1873  opened  with  much  encoarage- 
ment.  Gifts  from  Clinton  first  came  in.  Mississippi 
responded.  Laurensville  Presbyterians  bade  us  God 
speed  with  a  goodly  list  of  Donors.  Friendship, 
which  church  I  was  then  supplying  for  a  Sunday  in 
each  month,  filled  up  a  page.  The  month  footed  up 
$160.     The  showers  were  falling. 

The  whole  of  this  first  year  of  effort  was  occupied 
in  raising  funds  for  the  purchase  of  a  piece  of  ground 
on  which  to  build.  Many  lots  were  examined.  The 
one  at  last  chosen  is  a  beautiful  spot  along  Broadway, 
Clinton.  It  is  an  irregularly  shaped  block  of  land, 
containing  125  acres,  part  woodland,  part  open,  near 
the  railway  station,  not  far  from  the  church.  The 
Lord  himself  seemed  to  have  directed  us  to  it.  Time 
was  offered  us  in   which  to  pay    for   it,    and   fifteen 


A  Foothold.  23 

bundled  dollars  was  set  as  the  price  By  the  first  of 
August,  twelve  hundred  dollars,  all  our  collection, 
had  been  deposited  in  the  savings  bank  at  Laurens 
C.  H.  On  the  8th  of  August,  the  gentleman  from 
whom  the  titles  were  to  be  had,  rode  into  Clinton  and 
offered  these  titles  to  the  Board  on  payment  of  the 
full  amount.  It  was  determined  to  close  the  trade  at 
once  ;  the  $375  necessary  to  that  end  was  borrowed, 
and  that  with  a  check  on  the  savings  bank  was  ten- 
dered in  payment.  To  our  surprise  this  latter  was 
refused.  And  along  with  it  the  demand  that  the  pay- 
ment must  be  made  that  day  or  the  trade  would  bs 
off.  Vexed  at  what  seemed  trilling,  theie  was  noth- 
ing for  it  but  an  immediate  ride  to  Laurensville,  nine 
miles  away.  Even  there,  difficulties  awaited  the 
collection  of  money  from  the  bank.  Wearied  with  the 
day's  work,  the  settlement  was  at  last  made  and  the 
titles  passed.  What  gratitude  filled  our  hearts  when 
we  found,  a  few  days  afterward,  that  the  Bank  had 
closed  its  doors  and  gone  into  bankruptcy.  Then  we 
knew  that  our  Orphanage  had  been  saved.  Was  it 
by  an  accident.'*  Nay,  verily, — by  the  direct  inter- 
vention of  the  good  hand  of  our  God.  The  gentleman 
from  whom  we  purchased,  had  "  builded  better  than 
he  knew  !  "     The  Lord  had  sent  him. 

The  year  closed  with  the  report  from  the  Treasui'er 
that   he    had   received   in   the  twelve-month,  $1360. 

r 


24 


God's  Providence 


A  part  of  this  had  been  received  as  the  result  of  ad- 
dresses delivered  at  Friendship,  Laurensville,  Green- 
wood, Newberry,  Shady  Grove,  Charleston,  Rocky 
Springs,  and  elsewhere,  but  the  greater  portion  was 
the  result  of  the  warm-hearted  work  of  many  who 
now  enrolled  themselves  as  co-workers  with  us.  I 
read  over  the  list  of  our  earlier  helpers  amid  thanks- 
giving and  tears  !  I  see  loving  hands  that  helped  in 
the  toiling,  now  crossed  forever  upon  the  breast.  But 
there  are  some  who  still  abide.  One  young  lady, 
Miss  Lizzie  Brearly,  of  Sumter,  appears  in  the  re- 
cords of  each  year's  work.  Little  by  little,  she  has 
collected  more  than  six  hundred  dollars. 


1 


CHAPTER  V. 

STONE  AFTER  STONE  FROM  THE  QUARRY. 

NOTHER  year  had  opened. 

As  yet  we  had  lived  by  faith  only.     The  time 
had  now  come  to  arise  and  build. 


Earl}'  in  1874,  ^  P^^^"  of  oxen  was  purchased  ;  Mr. 
G.  C.  Young's  granite-quarry,  freely  tendered,  was 
a  busy  scene  of  blasting.  In  the  first  week  of  the 
new  year  the  first  load  of  rock  was  delivered.  Hav- 
ing decided  to  build  of  granite,  we  were  now  hard 
put  to  it  to  find  workmen.  Workmen  in  stone  were  not 
to  be  had.  It  was  our  heart's  desire  to  build  solidly, 
and  yet  the  prospect  was  against  us. 

It  was  then  that  one  of  those  singular  coincidences 
occurred  that  compel  us  to  believe  that  the  Lord  was 
caring  for  us  On  the  28th  of  January  there  arrived 
a  batch  of  forty-eight  emigrants,  the  first  that  had 
come  and  the  last  to  come.  Among  these,  two  excel- 
lent stone  masons  were  found.  These  two  were  to 
build  the  Orphanage,  and  then  to  disappear  as  thev 
came,  one  to  parts  unknown  and  the  other  in  the 
silent  grave. 


26  Corner-stone  Day. 

We  had  no  architect.  It  was  proposed  to  build 
simply  and  cheaply  and  as  we  received  the  money. 
We  began  without  a  dollar  in  the  treasury.  We  only 
knew  that  God  was  helping  us.  We  do  not  blame 
others  because  they  could  not  see  anything  but  fool- 
hardiness  in  our  plans.  They  looked  at  the  men. 
They  could  not  see  that  the  men  were  looking  at 
God.  A  friend  of  mine  stopped  me  on  the  street  one 
day  and  begged  me  to  give  up  this  project.  Said  he, 
"  It  will  ruin  you  !  "  I  told  him  "  It  were  well  to  be 
ruined  working  for  God."  He  shrugged  his  shoul- 
ders and  turned  his  back.  Another  bantered  me 
with  the  loan  often  dollars,  at  double  interest,  I  not 
to  return  it  if  the  Orphanage  should  ever  be  open- 
ed. I  took  the  money.  He  has  given  up  hope  of 
seeing  it. 

At  length  the  28th  of  May  had  dawned  upon  us.  It 
was  the  loth  anniversary  of  my  ordination.  How 
time  was  passing !  The  day  was  a  lovely  one.  At 
the  Methodist  Chu»ch  a  great  crowd  of  people  were 
assembled.  They  wore  the  regalia  of  the  Good 
Templars  and  Grangers  and  were  from  all  parts  of 
the  country.  Forming  in  procession,  they  were 
joined  by  bands  of  children  bearing  sunday- 
school  banners.  They  marched  down  Main  Street. 
When  opposite  the  Masonic  Lodge,  that  fraternity  fell 
into  line.     The  roads  were  filled  with  carriages  ;    the 


Set  in  Place.  27 

sidewalks  with  people.  This  was  the  day  we  had 
been  planning  for.  The  friends  of  the  Orphanage 
were  gathered  to  testify  their  willingness  to  work. 
The  Coruerstone  was  laid  at  12  m.,  Hon.  B.  W.  Ball 
presiding.  A  great  feast  was  spread  by  the  Ladies' 
Society  of  Earnest  Workers,  and  best  of  all,  nearly 
six  hundred  dollars  was  that  day  placed  in  the 
treasury.  The  immediate  results  of  the  day  was  to 
give  us  courage  to  go  forward.  The  Lord  was  giving 
us  favor  in  the  sight  of  His  people,  and  the  people 
were  giving  us  their  money.  Col.  Ball,  on  leaving 
Clinton  that  evening  handed  me  a  bill  for  the  treasuiy. 
Speaking  of  it  afterwards,  he  said, —  "  I  did  it  to 
encourage  you  all,  not  that  I  thought  the  Orphanage 
would  ever  be  built."  Oh  God,  bless  these  dear 
friends,  and  remember  it  for  their  good,  even  though 
their  faith  was  in  men  and  not  in  Thee  ! 

When  the  first  of  October  came,  completing  the 
second  year  of  our  orphan  work,  our  Tieasurer  re- 
ported $1,846  as  the  receipts.  Here  was  progress. 
Our  land  with  accrued  interest  and  taxes  had  all  been 
paid  for,  and  the  Home  of  Peace  had  been  completed 
to  the  level  of  the  second  story.  We  were  working 
upward. 

It  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  in  all  this  time  we 
had  no  anxieties.     But  there  was  never  a  doubt  but 


28  How  Long? 

that  God  would  bring  us  to  the  accomplishment  of 
our  desires.  Our  fear  was  that  we  should  not  please 
God.  We  knew  that  God  would  help  us,  if  v^e  acted 
honorably  toward  Him. 

We  had  set  the  first  day  of  January,  1875,  as  the 
day  of  our  opening.  But  Messrs.  Young  and  Bell, 
who  now  contracted  to  build  the  house,  were  delayed 
in  their  work.  Again  we  hoped  that  the  28th  of  May 
would  see  the  doors  open.  Again  hope  deferred 
made  the  heart  sick.  In  the  meanwhile,  orphans 
were  applying  for  admission,  and  friends  were  asking 
"When?"    and  "How  Long?" 

The  delay  was  better  for  us  than  we  knew.  Our 
own  minds  were  not  all  of  a  unit.  I  felt  that  I  want- 
ed to  swing  clear  away  from  the  traditional  Oiphan 
Institution,  and  to  found  a  Home-School  that  would 
have  nothing  of  the  Employment- bureau  about  it. 
I  never  could  see  why  orphans  should  be  treated  like 
criminals,  or  made  to  feel  that  they  were  objects  of 
charity.  Throw  up  your  hands  in  holy  horror  at  that 
iconoclastic  error  I  But  I  stand  to  it  You  shall  not 
treat  my  children  as  though  they  deserved  nothing 
but  pity.  They  shall  hold  up  their  heads.  They 
shall  feel  that  they  are  men.  Bind  them  out !  Nay, 
verily,  not  it  I  live  to  prevent  it.  I  am  writing  about 
my  own  flesh  and  blood,  and   am  not  saying  this  of 


Our  Plans  Fixed.  29 

my  orphans.  And,  yet,  why  not  of  my  orphans? 
They  are  God's  children,  and  shall  not  God's  children 
be  treated  as  well  as  mhicP 

At  length  we  all  came  to  an  understanding.  We 
were  to  have  a  new  idea  for  the  world's  people  to  cry 
down.  The  Church,  the  dear  old  Presbyterian 
Church,  (God  bless  her)  was  to  adopt  these  orphans; 
they  were  to  be  her  own  ;  she  was  to  put  spirit  into 
them  ;  to  give  them  a  true  home  ;  to  educate  them 
well,  to  do  the  best  for  them  in  that  line  that  could  be 
done  ;  and  having  so  fitted  them  for  life's  work,  train- 
ing head,  heart  and  hand,  to  bid  them  God-speed  as 
they  took  up  their  weapons  and  entered  into  the  bat- 
tle of  life.  We  were  to  have  our  children  to  work  ; — 3'es, 
— work  is  noHIe  ;  Jesus  worked.  It  would  make  them 
feel  honest,  independent,  self-reliant,  to  work.  But 
there  w^as  to  be  no  reformatoiy  discipline  ;  no  institution- 
life  ;  no  law  or  ordinance  that  m}-  own  children  could  not 
endure. 

There  was  another  hindrance.  We  had  no  Matron. 
We  had  tried  one  and  another.  We  had  failed  every- 
where. One  letter  was  sent  to  us  that  had  it  been  re- 
ceived, would  have  prevented  what  afterwards  happen- 
ed. But  it  was  missent  to  another  office,  though  most 
plainly  directed.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  first  of  October 
was  nigh  at  hand.     It  v/as  the  da}'  fixed  for  opening. 


30  Who  Should  he  Matron 

It  was  most  unexpectedly  to  me  that  she  who  now  for 
nearly  eleven  years  had  been  to  me  "starlight,  moon- 
light, sunlight  ''freely  offered  herself.  I  could  not  un- 
derstand it  all  at  first.  It  seemed  hard  to  give  up  a 
sweet  home,  a  cosy  fireside,  my  literary  leisure,  and 
to  mix  up  my  little  ones  with  the  children  of  strangers. 
Ah!  were  they  not  God's  children?  "Was  there  a 
lamb  in  all  his  flock,  I  would  disdain  to  feed?"  And 
so  it  all  came  about  in  God's  way,  which  was  wiser 
than  our  way,  that  we  were  to  come  close  in  to  the 
heart  of  the  work. 

As  September  drew  to  its  close,  the  contractors  were 
prepared  to  give  us  the  use  of  the  building.  We  were 
$2,000  behind  in  the  payments  for  it ;  but  no  papers 
were  passed ;  there  was  nothing  to  bind  us  or  any  one. 
Already  several  orphans  were  at  vay  house  ready  for 
the  transfer.  The  third  year  ended,  and  the  Treasurer 
reported.  One  large  gift  of  five  hundred  dollars  from  "A 
friend  in  earnest''  had  been  received.  It  cheered  our 
hearts.  This  had  been  set  aside  for  the  endowment  of  the 
Orphanage.  Besides,  we  had  received  $2,837.25, 
For  all  this  I  had  made  personal  appeal  to  no  one.  I 
had  laid  our  wants  before  God's  people  through  the 
printed  page,  and  left  the  rest  with  them. 

Three  long  years  of  patient  labor  !  Brethren  beloved, 
my  fellow  workers  together  with  God,  how  often  I  have 


The  Master's  Way. 


31 


thouf^hl  over  those  years  of  the  trial  of  our  patience  I 
They  seemed  hard  then.  But  the  Master  was  reining 
us,  and  fitting  us  to  understand  that  His  care  of  us  does 
not  prechide  us  altogether  from  the  ills  of  life.  It 
even  said  that  whom  the  Lord  loveth,  he  chasteneth. 


IS 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AT  LENGTH  THE  GLAD  DAY  CAME. 

SHALL  I  ever  for- 
get that  first  day 
of  October,  1875? 
That  day,  the  dream 
of  five  years  and  the 
toil   of  three,    were 
^  to  meet  in  a  waking  reality. 

There  was  another  great  gather- 
ing. From  all  about  us,  and  from 
every  house  in  Clinton,  came  dona- 
tions for  the  orphans.  Little  chil- 
dren brought  chickens  and  eggs. 
One  brought  a  coftee  grinder,  anoth- 
er a  sieve,  and  so  on.  The  older 
people  brought  barrels  of  flour,  a 
great  tub  of  lard,  rolls  of  yellow 
butter,  a  hogshead  of  syrup,  clothing, 
bed-quilts.  I  see  now  the  beaming 
face  of  dear  "  Aunt  Sake  "  (she  was 
Aunt  Sake  to  all  of  us, — a  very  mother  in  Israel)  as  she 
busied   herself  in   sorting  the  great   pile  of  things  and 


O 

o 


Feathering  the  Home-Nest.  33 

arranging  them  for  the  eye  of  a  curious  pubHc.  Blessed 
woman  !  you  have  passed  beyond  the  stars,  and  the  hea- 
vens hold  you,  but  earth  still  cherishes  your  precious 
memory.  You  were  the  Deborah  and  Dorcas  of  our  Israel, 
and  tears  rained  down,  when  the  clods  covered  you. 

But  from  afar  came  gifts  also.  How  cosy  our  bright 
little  school-room  looked,  witli  its  new  furnitiu-e  from 
the  pious  women  of  the  old  Second  Church  of  Charles- 
ton. There  was  another  Charleston  church  (Glebe 
St.)  that  had  fitted  up  a  room  for  the  first  group  of 
orphan  girls.  Laurens  and  Cross  Hill  had  done  their 
part.  Clinton  had  filled  the  kitchen  and  larder.  Ave- 
leigh  spread  the  dining-room  table.  It  was  our  joy, 
too,  to  welcome  Rev.  James  H.  Thorn  well,  on  whom 
the  mantle  of  his  father's  heart  rested.  My  own  dear 
father,  an  old  man  then,  his  head  now  whitened  with 
80  winters,  was  there  to  give  his  paternal  blessing. 

The  day  and  the  labors  of  preparation  prostrated  me  ; 
and  I  could  take  no  part  in  the  public  ceremonies.  But 
when  night  fell,  there  was  a  little  gathering  about  my 
sick  bed.  Nearest  sat  the  precious  wife,  whose  love 
and  wise  thoughtfulness  had  made  me  what  I  was  that 
was  worthy  ;  my  own  little  band  of  four  gave  way  for 
the  time,  that  a  half  timid  circle  of  little  ones  might 
press  about  her.  There  was  little  Ella,  with  her  round 
bright  face;  Fannie   and    Mattie,  our  "  elder  sisters,  " 


34  The  First  Prayer. 

■ 

sat  next.  Walter  stood  behind.  Alfred  was  already 
tall,  and  his  face  showed  the  honor  that  was  in  him. 
There  too  was  Johnnie,  as  full  of  fun  as  the  days  were 
long ;  Flora,  bright,  impulsive,  earnest ;  and  Annie, 
the  sweet  little  pet  of  the  household, — these  made  up 
the  happy  group  that  formed  that  first  night's  opening 
audience.  Lowry,  the  hopeful,  earnest  young  Christian, 
who  presided  over  our  High  School  (he  is  a  Pastor 
now)  and  Miss  Emma,  whom  the  children  loved  from 
that  veiy  night  as  teacher  seldom  is  loved ; — these  all 
knelt  together,  as  I,  prostrate  in  bed,  bound  them  to- 
gether with  cords  of  faith. 

They  have  all  gone  out  from  the  home  nest,  but  there 
is  not  one  of  that  little  company  that  has  not  been  true 
to  God  and  duty.  Married  people  are  they  now.  One 
of  that  group  is  waiting  for  us  in  heaven. 

We  began  this  work  all  so  new,  with  heavy  pressure 
on  us  of  a  debt  of  $2,000,  which  all  our  money  receipts 
were  pledged  to  satisfy  ;  the  building  itself  was  unfinish- 
ed and  in  the  woods.  But  the  Lord  had  touched  our 
hearts  and  made  us  willing  to  bear  and  to  work.  Every 
shoulder  was  put  to  the  wheel.  The  little  ones  that 
were  with  us  caught  at  once  the  spirit  of  the  enterprise. 
They  were  to  be  color-bearers. 

One  day,  as  I  was  sitdng  in  m}'  library,  the  little 
girls  of  the  household|^came  in,  in  a  body. 


The  Children  Take  Charge.  35 

"  Heigh  I  "  said  I,  "What  is  the  meaning  of  this 
committee  of  the  whole  ?  " 

Mattie  was  spokesman. — "Mr.  Jacobs,  what  does  it 
cost  to  feed  one  of  us  a  year?  " 

"Well,  my  little  one,  I  hardly  know  how  to  guage 
your  appetites,  but  I  guess,  all  round,  about  sixty 
dollars." 

"And  what  do  you  have  to  pay  the  old  Mauma  that 
cooks  for  us?" 

"There,"  said  I,  "you  get  me.  Let  me  see,  sixty 
dollars  in  money,  sixty  dollars  in  what  she  eats,  and  I 
really  do  not  know  how  much  in  '  pickings  and  scra- 
pings.' " 

She  clapped  her  Httle  hands  in  glee.  "Mr.  Jacobs, 
this  is  what  we  have  to  offer !  Send  off  the  cook,  and 
take  two  more  orphans,  and  let  us  do  the  cooking !  "  ' 

Ah,  how  proudly  that  fair  young  face  shone  as  she 
tried  to  stretch  up  her  lithe  young  form  an  inch  or  two 
higher.     Blessings  on  the  child  I 

That  was  the  way  it  all  came  aJaout  that  our  girls 
took  hold  of  their  duties.  The  boys  were  not  to  be  be- 
hind, and  when  January  came,  a  "colored  brother" 
had  to  seek  another  position.  The  children  were  divi- 
ded into  companies  of  twos  and  threes,  each  with  a  child- 


36  Tom  Scott. 

monitor  in  charge.  What  an  eas}^  time  President  and 
Matron  were  having  !  The  children  were  running  the 
machinery  of  the  Institution. 

It  was  just  before  Christmas  that  the  Lord  sent  Bro. 
Tom  Scott  to  us.  Who  is  Tom  Scott?  Not  to  know 
him  argues  yourself  unknown.  Well,  Tom  Scott  was 
everything.  He  had  even  tried  to  teach  school.  He 
was  a  painter.  He  was  a  trader.  He  had  once  been 
born  in  London.  He  was  wide  awake  all  over.  He 
loved  the  Orphanage  with  all  his  heart.  He  was  very 
fond  of  reading  histor)^  He  knew  just  how  to  collect 
money.  He  didn't  care  a  straw  for  worldly  pelf.  He 
did'nt  expect  to  get  married. 

You  say,  That  account  is  very  much  mixed  up.  So 
was  Tom  Scott.     But  the  Lord  had  use  for  him. 

I  remember  when  he  came  to  me  once  and  said, — 
"  You  preached  last  night  that  the  Lord  would  take  any 
sort  of  a  man?"  "Yes."  "That  he  would  give  his 
salvation  to  any  that  wanted  it?"  "You  are  right." 
"  That  he  only  asked  in  return  an  entire  surrender?" 
"I  did."  "Then,"  he  answered,  "give  us  your 
hand  on  that — I  take  him  at  his  word  !  "  A  few  days 
after  he  united  with  the  Church,  he  came  back. 
"You  said  in  your  sermon  last  night  that  the  Lord 
had  use  for  everybody."  "  Yes."  "  Then  here  I  am. 
Give   me  His  marching  orders." 


God's  Care.  37 

And  so  our  dear  faithful,  willing,  energetic  brother 
threw  in  his  lot  with  us  as  general  fac-totum,  super- 
cargo, steward  and  right  hand  man": 

That  year  passed  quickly  and  busily  by.  New 
children  came.  Many  friends  bade  us  God-speed. 
Little  improvements  were  added. 

God's  people  had  come  to  our  help.  $1,687.22  had 
been  given  to  the  support  fund.  A  "  friend  in  ear- 
nest," the  same  whose  generous  gift  had  given  life  to 
our  enterprise,  now  added  a  Thousand  Dollars  to  our 
endowment  fund,  while  nearly,  if  not  fully,  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  worth  of  provisions  and  furniture  and 
clothing  had  been  sent  in.  It  so  happened  that  it  was 
during  that  year  that  we  needed  much  of  this  latter 
class  of  gifts,  for  all  our  cash  receipts  were  to  go  to 
meet  our  indebtedness  to  our  contractors.  Was  it 
not  wonderful  that  God  who  alone  knew  this,  should 
have  provided  for  the  wants  of  our  household  in  a 
way  that  he  has  never  done  since,  and  thus  enabled 
us  to  sweep  away  the  burden  of  debt.  Shout  it  to  the 
heavens,  oh  men,  and  sing  it,  ye  seraphs,  God  careth 
for  us  ! 


448864 


CHAPTER  VII . 

THE  CHILDREN'S  FOUNDATION. 

When  it  was  first  proposed  to  found  an 
Endowment  Fund  for  the  Orphanage, 
-some  objected.  Was  it  not  better  to  walk 
wholly  by  faith  and  not  at  all  by  sight? 
Would  it  not  be  better  for  both  the  Orphanage  and  the 
Lord's  people  that  the  one  should  depend  for  daily 
bread  upon  the  other?  It  would  give  occasion  for  the 
continual  exercise  of  Christian  charity.  George 
Muller  decided  against  endowment.  And,  indeed, 
there  is  much  to  be  said  on  that  side. 

But  there  is  likewise  much  to  be  said  on  the  other. 
God's  care  is  as  much  needed  to  preserve  buildings 
and  endowments  as  it  is  to  give  daily  bread.  God's 
mercy  is  as  much  shown  by  giving  one  as  the  other. 

This  thought  came  to  me, — Why  not  have  both? 
There  are  certain  promises  that  must  be  made  in 
order  to  have  efficient  work, — such  as  the  salary  and 
support  of  matrons  and  teachers.  There  is  also  the 
need  of  frequent  repaiis  and  incidentals  that  do  not 
appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  God's  people.  We 
thought  to  raise  a  fund    that  we  have  fixed  at  Fifty 


God  Anstvers  Prayer.  39 

Thousand  dollars,  (the  tenth  of  which  has  been  re- 
ceived) to  meet  these  lesser  bills,  and  to  provide  that, 
come  what  might,  the  support  of  a  number  of  orphans 
would  be  assured.  This  would  give  a  nucleus  only, 
leaving  great  margin  of  percentage  for  the  exhibition 
of  the  charities  of  God's  people. 

Now,  I  want  to  say  here,  once  for  all,  and  with  an 
emphasis  as  violent'as  a  peal  of  thunder,  that  our  ex- 
perience has  shown  a  thousand  times  over,  that  God 
answers  prayer.  On  the  truth  of  that  proposition  one 
may  dare  hang  his  faith  in  God's  word,  and  in  con- 
sequence, the  salvation  of  his  soul.  All  men's  ex- 
periences may  not  be  alike.  But  this  has  happen- 
ed to  me  till  repetition  would  make  it  a  weary 
tale;  —  I  have  needed,  say,  $200  for  some  special 
object,  perhaps  to  meet  a  call  for  provisions.  I  have 
asked  just  that  money  of  my  God,  telhng  Him  the 
day  and  hour  when  I  must  have  it.  The  answer 
came  in  such  a  way  that  sent  the  electric  flash  of 
conviction  to  my  soul  that  God  was  caring  tor  us. 
It  was  no  distrust  of  Him,  therefore,  but  what  we 
believed  to  be  the  guidance  of  His  providence  that 
led  to  the  founding  of  our  endowment. 

And  here  a  difficulty  met  us. 

There  was  coming  upon  us  the  care  of  an  annually 
increasing  family    that    needed  large  gifts   for  their 


40  Pyramids  of  Pennies. 

suppoit.  An  appeal  for  an  endowment  would  cut  off 
this  support.  Personal  appeals  I  would  not  make. 
Indeed  I  could  not,  for  my  pastoral  work,  my  fre- 
quent preaching,  and  now  my  personal  care  of  the 
Orphanage    household,  forbade  any  ?uch  endeavor. 

Then  it  was  remembered  that  the  first  three  gifts 
to  the  Orphanage  were  from  children,  "  Why  can- 
not our  children  the  youth  of  oyr  Sabbath-schools, 
give  us  an  endowmeut?  "     That  settled  it. 

So  the  inuumerable  mites  began  to  flow  in.  I  look 
through  the  veil  upon  a  picture.  I  see  multitudes  of 
pure,  sweet  hands  of  childhood  ministering  I  They 
aic  piling  up  little  pyramids  of  pennies,  nickles  and 
dimes.  They  are  building  up  the  ''  Children's  En- 
dowment Gift."  Angels  are  hanging  over  it.  It  is 
as  sweet  incense  before  the  altar  of  God. 

Thus  we  began  the  new  year  with  this  new  plan  to 
win  the  sweet  hearts  of  God's  blessed  children  to  do 
work  for  children.  It  was  my  own  sabbath-school 
that  laid  in  the  first  gift  in  the  foundation  of  this  en- 
terprise.    Even  the  orphans  helped  to  swell  the  gift. 

We  also  found  that  this  new  movement  did  not  in- 
terfere with  the  support  of  our  household.  Now, 
first,  also,  the  plan  inaugurated  by  the  dear  old  2nd 
Lhurch,  of  Charleston,  of  selecting  one  child  to  be 
supported  by    a    society,    church,    sunday-school   or 


Changes.  41 

individual.  This  is  after  the  manner  of  an  endowment 
tliat  brings  us  very  near  to  the  people  of  God.  Their 
love  is  our  endowment.  The  interest  comes  with  a 
steady  flow.  In  that  first  year,  there  were  four  church- 
es and  individuals  to  take  up  this  work  for  God,  and  all 
four  abide  wnth  us  to  this  day. 

The  year  was  an  uneventful  one  of  steady  work. 
God's  litde  children  paid  into  their  gift  fund,  $333.10 
The  receipts  for  the  support  amounted  to  $1,458.  A 
friend  gave  $100  to  finish  oft'  the  attic  stoiy  of  the 
building.  A  Charleston  gentleman  presented  a  $200 
bond  to  our  Endowment.  A  change  had  also  occurred 
in  our  household.  Miss  Thorn  well  had  taken  the  place 
of  our  first  teacher,  Miss  Witherspoon.  She  was  rap- 
idly winning  her  way  to  our  hearts. 

I  love  full  well  to  tell  of  the  goodness  of  God  to  these 
children.  But  I  love  better  still  to  tell  these  father- 
less ones,  as  I  meet  them  each  day,  of  what  the 
Lord  is  doing  for  them.  To  care  for  an  orphan's  body 
is  an  easy  matter.  Indeed,  a  little  roughness  will  drive 
him  to  do  that  for  himself.  To  cut  and  polish  the  bright 
gem  of  his  mind  till  it  shines  with  thousand-faced  lustre, 
that  is  labor.  But  there  is  a  secret  still  bevond  this.  It 
is  to  find  the  child's  soul  and  to  hold  it  up  to  the  eternal 
Sun,  till  a  light  comes  down  into  it  that  innumerable 
storm-clouds  can  only  make  to  burn  the  brighter. 


42  No  Longer  Orphans. 

God  seems  to  say  to  me  every  day,  "Teach  my 
children  my  law ! "  It  was  for  this  that  the  Thorn- 
well  Orphanage  was  founded,  and  it  must  save  the 
children.  There  has  never  passed  a  year  since  the 
opening  that  some  of  the  orphans  have  not  pressed  into 
the  Kingdom,  yet  there  has  never  been  a  "revival" 
among  them.  It  has  been  so  easy  for  them  to  feel  that 
they  are  God's  own  precious  children.  They  attend 
the  church  and  sunday-school  as  equals  with  others. 
They  mingle  freely  in  social  intercourse  with  Clinton 
people.  No  badge  was  set  upon  them.  They  were 
not  marked  and  labelled  as  "  Orphans.  "  They  were 
not  orphans, — God  is  their  father.  Therefore,  they 
must  love  Him  and  serve  Him.  Of  the  twenty-one 
children  that  began  our  third  year  with  us,  every  single 
one  became  a  member  of  the  church. 

The  year  was  one  of  quiet,  faithful,  persistent  labor. 
The  school  was  putting  in  telling  work.  The  children 
daily  rolled  up  their  sleeves  and  went  at  it  like  little 
men  and  women  in  Kitchen,  Laundry,  Garden  and 
Printing  Office.  If  the  thoughtless  grumbled,  the  older 
silenced  them.  "  God  is  caring  for  us,"  they  said,  "  we 
must  do  our  part."  Manual  labor  schools  are  usually, 
a  failure.  The  motive  is  absent.  But  here  the  motive! 
is, — "  Because  God  and  His  Church  are  helping  us,  we 
will  help  ourselves.     To  the  work !     To  the  work  !  " 


Steadij  Work.  43 

The  eyes  of  my  readers  would  be  weary  if  I  were  to 
spread  before  them  all  the  incidents  of  each  passing 
year.  The  improvements  of  those  early  days  were  ef- 
fected through  great  toil.  I  remember  taking  a  friend 
to  the  front  of  the  building..  He  noticed  five  bolt  holes 
through  the  stone  wall. — "  What  are  they  for?  "  "  They 
are  left  to  bolt  the  frame  work  of  the  wooden  piazza  to 
the  stone  work,  w^ien  we  build  one."  "  When  30U 
build  one? — It  will  never  be  built !  "  But  it  w^as  built, 
and  a  neat  little  kitchen  tacked  on  at  the  rear  of  the 
house.  They  cost  only  $300.  We  thought  we  were 
doing  great  things  then.  And  were  we  not? — The 
Lord  had  given  us  twenty-one  precious  children  to  train 
for  the  Kingdom,  and  $1,949.31,  wherewith  to  make 
provision  for  them. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

A  THICK  CLOUD. 

MY  neighbor  who  has  lost  a  Httle  finger,  tells  me  that 
he  misses  it  every  day, — he  feels  as  though  a  great 
part  of  him  were  gone. 

I  never  dreamed  when  1879  dawned  upon  our  happy 
household,  that  the  desire  of  my  soul  and  the  staff  and 
stay  of  those  many  orphans  should  wath  speaking  eyes, 
wave  us  a  fond  farewell,  as  she  placed  her  frail  hand 
in  God's.  Blessed  Master,  the  misery  of  that  hour 
could  never  have  been  borne,  but  for  the  othei*  arm 
wherewith  Thou  didst  bear  up  the  sufferer.  It  was  a 
time  of  sohd  darkness  that  encompassed  him,  with  only 
the  little  light  within  the  soul,  where  Thou  didst  dwell, 
oh  m}'  God. 

Pardon  me,  my  reader.  I  have  no  right  to  say  these 
things  here,  but  that  I  saw  the  orphans,  orphaned 
again,  their  tears  washing  the  face  of  her  who  had  loved 
them  so,  who  had  given  up  all  for  them,  and  whose  fair 
hand  would  nevermore  caress  them.  God  pity  the  man 
who  loses  a  faithful  wife.  God  pit}^  the  children  that 
lose  a  faithful  mother. 


FAITH  COTTAGE 


Little  Frank  Cripps.  45 

We  buried  her.  And  then  all  the  beauty  in  the 
children's  character  shone  out.  Our  zealous  teacher. 
Miss  Thornwell,  with  courage  worthy  of  her  glorified 
father,  took  all  the  tasks  of  the  house  upon  herself. 
The  children  went  like  clock-work  with  a  soul  in  it, 
to  their  duties.  And  when  Mrs.  Lee  came  to  take  the 
reins  in  her'hand,  it  seemed  as  natural  a  transition  as 
for  to-day's  sun  to  follow  yesterday's. 

Tiiere  was  a  little  lad  that  had  come  to  our  Orphan- 
age, who  from  the  very  first  had  won  his  way  to  our 
hearts.  Little  Frank  loved  everything.  He  would 
put  his  arms  about  the  neck  of  "  Calfie  "  and  pour 
his  words  into  its  senseless  ears.  If  the  pigs  saw  him 
they  ran  squealing  after  him.  They  knew  who  was 
their  friend.  He  would  fill  his  hands  with  fodder  and 
hunt  up  "  old  Charlie  "  that  he  might  see  him  happy 
with  his  crunching  of  the  ctisp  blades.  Every  dumb 
thing,  and  things  that  were  not  dumb,  loved  him. 
Frank's  story  was  a  long  one  and  a  sad  one.  I  need 
not  tell  it.  We  called  him  "  our  little  Spaniard  "  for 
Frank's  mother  was  a  Castilian,  and  his  birth-place 
Mexico,  and  thither  he  fondly  dreamed  he  would  one* 
day  carry  the  story  of  Jesus.  But  the  Master  had 
chosen  Frank  to  keep  company  with  his  dear  second 
mother  in  heaven.  (Oh,  how  she  loved  him  !)  It  was 
on  the  8tii  of  September  that  the  wild  alarm  wrung  a 
storm  of  tears  from  the  eyes  of  our  orphan  household, 


46  The  Dark  Hour. 

—"Frank  is  dying  !  Surely  he  is  dying,  for  we  can- 
not wake  him  !  "  And  then  a  few  moments  after, 
"  Frank  is  dead?  "  He  had  passed  away  and  none 
knew  what  ailsd  him. 

In  those  days  God  was  teaching  u?  to  say,  "  Shall 
we  receive  good  at  the  hand  of  God,  and  shall  we 
not  likewise  receive  evil?"  I  copy  this  sentence  from 
Frank's  Bible.  Years  ago  his  little  hands  turned  its 
pages.  To-day,  if  we  could  be  with  him,  he  could 
explain  to  us  that  soul-piercing  mystery. 

How  quickly  these  children,  gathered  from  many 
States  and  different  surroundings,  learn  to  love  each 
other.  They  are  not  strangers.  Their  attachments 
become  like  bars  of  iron  for  firmness.  Alone  in  the 
great  world,  the  heart  cries  out  for  partnership. 
They  find  it  in  this  sweet  home-circle  and  are  glad. 
Let  none  wonder,  then,  that  this  dear  child  should 
have  been  mourned  with  love  that  was  true  and  deep. 

Who  would  have  thought  that  a  little  life  like  that 
of  Frank's  should  have  had  a  noble  purpose  to  serve 
in  the  economy  of  God's  Kingdom.  Yet,  it  was  to 
be  even  so. 

A  dream  had  come  into  our  hearts  that  possibly 
some  day  God  would  open  up  a  way  to  add  a  second 
cottage  to  our  establishment,  in  which  a  family  could 
be  set  off  for  themselves.     We  had  put  it  aside  as  not 


Faith  Cottage,  47 

to  be  thought  of.  When,  however,  Mrs.  Burt,  of 
Philadelphia,  sent  us  a  check  for  $155  43  to  be  used 
as  a  memorial  of  little  Frank  Cripps,  we  saw  that 
God's  time  had  come.  We  did  not  know  just  whence 
a  sum  of  which  that  would  be  one-tenth,  should  come  ; 
nor  did  we  wish  to  make  special  appeals  for  it,  for 
fear,  (how  little  we  knew  God's  Church!)  that  we 
would  be  thought  too  avaricious  for  the  fatherless. 
And  so  we  lay  the  matter  before  God  and  asked  His 
guidance.  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  tell  down, 
and  by  faith  can  these  walls  be  built  up.  Faith  Cot- 
tage shall  it  be  called.     "  Ask  and  ye  shall  receive," 


V5 

our  motto. 


So  the  Board  said  to  me,  "  Go  forward  !  "  and  I 
obeyed.  The  boys  themselves  were  filled  with  en- 
thusiasm for  the  scheme.  The  wagon  was  put  to 
its  best  work  to  haul  in  rock  for  the  building.  Clin- 
ton sent  her  teams  to  aid  us. 

The  year  1880  dawned  upon  us  and  found  us  busy. 
The  whole  of  the  previous  year  had  only  placed 
$1763  in  our  treasury.  The  annual  income  had  been 
decreasing  for  two  years.     Times  were  very  hard. 

Often  we  needed  to  go  to  go  to  God  for  strength. 
We  had  met  with  newspaper  persecution.  Friends 
had  grown  cold.  Death  had  done  its  sad  work  in 
our  household.     But  what  is  faith  worth  if  it  cannot 


48  The  New  Cornerstone 

see  in  the  dark.  Lord,  Thou  didst  mean  to  teach  us 
that  no  stone  should  go  into  these  buildings  that  Thou 
didst  not  place  there.  If  this  was  to  be  God's  work 
why  should  he  not  do  it  in  His  own  way?  His  way 
might  puzzle  the  workmen.  Let  them  wait.  They 
would  thus  best  learn  that  it  was  Another  working,  and 
not  themselves.  Were  there  no  hindrances,  there 
could  be  no  faith. 

Inch  by  inch  the  new  building  progressed.  On  the 
28th  of  July  our  church  filled  out  the  25th  year  of  its 
organic  life.  The  afternoon  of  that  day  was  selected 
as  a  suitable  occasion  to  put  the  corner-stone  in  place. 
It  was  exceedingly  unlike  the  former  ceremony 
Now,  only  the  Church  took  part.  She  had  given  it 
birth.  She  now  blessed  it  with  her  prayers.  But 
around  the  President  was  gathered  a  happy  group  of 
four  and  twenty  orphans,  whose  voices  were  lifted  up 
to  the  blue  skies  in  sweet  thanksgiving. 

Bro.  Scott  builded  with  his  own  hands  and  infused 
heartiness  into  the  workmen.  The  methods  of  con- 
crete building  had  to  be  studied  and  then  put  into 
practice.  It  was  well  and  faithfully  done.  The  an- 
nual "New  Year's  Day,"  Oct.  ist,  brought  the 
Board  together  to  hear  the  sum  of  their  8th  year's 
work. 


Summing  Up. 

See  what  God  and  faith  had  wrought.  For  Faith 
Cottage,  $1,072.34  had  been  received.  To  the  en- 
dowment $447.59  had  been  added.  While  for  the 
support  fund  the  gifts  had  run  up  to  $2,185.78. 
Evidently  it  would  not  be  a  mistake  to  enlarge  the 
number  ef  our  ward  ■. 


4. 

'  fa 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LENGTHENING  OUR  CORDS. 

MARBLE  slab  with   this  simple  in- 
scription 

FAITH     COTTAGE 
1880 

Ask  and  ye  shall  receive 

Is  seen  by  any  one  who  ascends  the  steps 
into  the  portico  of  that  building.  Lest 
men  should  be  silent,  the  stone  utters  its  testimony  to 
the  goodness  of  God. 

On  the  2ist  of  March,  1881,  our  hive  swarmed,  and 
the  boys,  with  genial,  kind-hearted  Gus  Holmes  as 
their  elder  brother,  moved  in,  bag  and  baggage.  The 
litde  printers  shouldered  their  tjpe  cases,  their  galleys 
and  their  shooting  sticks.  The  great  press  was  mount- 
ed on  a  wagon  and  escorted  over  in  state.  The 
President's  office  was  lodged  in  the  ''parlor"  and 
the  press  in  the  "  kitchen.  " 

On  that  day,  when  all  the  bills  were  in  and  the 
workmen  dismissed,  we  iound  that  all  accounts  footed 
up  $1500.38,  and  our  receipts  showed  just  1500.38 
to  meet  them. 


\ 


Getting  Acquainted.  51 

We  had  gathered  of  God's  manna  in  our  vessels  of 
Faith,  anh  lo  I  there  was  no  lack,  neither  was  there 
any  over. 

Would  you  like  now  to  walk  in  among  the  children 
and  see  them  for  a  moment,  as  we  leave  these  shift- 
ing scenes  behind  us.  Some  that  we  met  five  years 
ago,  are  gone.  Little  Annie  is  now  a  sweet,  fair- 
faced  young  lady  ;  this  is  Mollie, — Ah,  Mollie,  we 
little  thought  you  and  Gus  would  play  us  such  a  trick. 
Married,  eh?  I  do  not  think  one  could  help  loving 
Minnie, — "little"  Minnie  we  called  her,  (what  is 
that?  _y<?«  would'nt  call  her  so?)  Here  too  is  our 
poetess  ;  and  this  one  is  to  be  our  old  maid  ;  and  this 
one  makes  the  little  boys  stand  around  (she  is  in 
Arkansas  now).  You  want  to  see  the  boys?  They 
are  gone  to  Enoree  to-day.  Up  long  before  day.  Even 
staid  Sam  is  with  them  ;  Darby,  and  Will,  and  Tom, 
and  Ben,  and  Allie,  and  Ellerbe,  and  the  rest  of  them. 
Oft^for  a  roval  fish  and  a  plunge  in  the  rushing  waters. 
We  can  trust  them,  never  fear,  if  they  are  or-p/ians! 
Ah,  boys,  you  are  all  men  now. 

"  Swifter  than  a  weaver's  shuttle"  (so  says  the  blessed 
Word),  are  our  lives.  We  felt  it  to  be  so,  and  when, 
just  after  the  doors  of  Faith  Cottage  were  opened  and 
the  lads  trooped  in,  there  came  a  new  ciy  to  us, — ''Our 
school-room  is  too  strait  for  us.     We  be  too  manv  I  " 


52  Another  Door  Ajar. 

We  had  cleared  away  the  iiibbish  and  moved  aback  of 
the  new  building,  the  embracing  fence.  That  night  the 
Board  met.  I  thought  to  burst  a  bomb-shell  among 
them.  "Brethren,"  I  said,  "our  school-room  is  too 
small.  Our  classes  ti"ead  upon  each  other.  We  need 
a  school-house;  one  worthy  of  the  name  of  Thornwell, 
with  hall  and  libraiy,  museum  and  class-rooms." 
The  bomb-shell  didn't  burst.  "  We  knew  it,"  they 
said,  "it  is  high  time!"  They  had  faith.  If  they 
could  trust  me,  could  not  I  trust  God?  I  laid  the  mat- 
ter down  at  Jesus'  feet.  I  told  Him  what  His  orphans 
needed.  And  He  too  knew  it  before  I  did.  "Then, 
Master,  lead  and  let  me  follow  !  " 

While  I  was  rousing  up  to  this  new  toil, — that  year,  the 
9th  year  of  our  endeavor,  the  5th  of  our  orphan-work, 
ended.  God  had  given  me  $2,244.19  for  the  orphans, 
$500  for  Faith  Cottage  and  $1,644.96  for  the  endow- 
ment. And  there  had  also  been,  while  I  waited,  $106 
sent  in  for  the  new  building.  , 

I  look  over  those  figures  for  the  endowment,  and  I 
read  between  them  a  golden  thread  of  providence.  At 
one  end  Mrs.  Nettie  F.  McCormick  is  disentan^linff  the 
skein.  Judge  Cothran  aiding,  and  presently  the  knot 
falls  apart,  and  a  thousand  golden  dollars  pour  down  into 
the  oi"phans'  treasury.  The  Lord  is  able  to  help  b}^  few 
as  well  as  by  man3^  One  can  chase  a  thousand,  and 
two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight. 


'• 


Pay  Every  Saturday  Night.  53 

For  a  second  time  the  Master  has  sent  a  liberal  donor 
to  build  up  our  endowment.  And  this  too,  was;  a 
woman.  Forget  not  this,  it  was  a  woman  that  brought 
into  the  world  the  Son  ol'  God  I 

How  deep  is  a  human  heart  I  None  can  see  the 
storms  of  the  soul.  Neither  can  any  see  its  sunshine. 
It  is  easy  now  "to  build  the  Orphans'  Seminary"  on 
paper.  But  the  work  of  building  in  stone  and 
mortar  was  not  so  easy.  From  October  to  March 
we  were  busy  collecting  money  and  material.  The 
boys  were  giants  among  the  rocks.  Ben  was  fa- 
mous among  the  boys,  and  boasted  with  honest  pride 
of  the  great  loads  he  hauled.  Mr.  Scott  took  charge  of 
the  workmen.  We  were  to  build  a  great  house.  It 
was  to  be  the  largest  of  the  buildings,  with  a  handsome 
hall  for  gathering,  and  a  bell  tower  from  which  we  were 
to  see  the  mountains.  We  began  the  work  with  but 
little  money.  Why  should  that  trouble  us?  We  would 
not  need  to  pay  the  workm.en  till  Saturday.  If  our 
Master  thought  best,  we  could  stop  the  work  whenever 
it  pleased  Ilim.  It  was  His  work,  not  ours.  If  it  went 
forward,  there  were  to  be  94  weeks  (we  didn't  know 
it  then),  at  the  end  of  eveiy  one  of  which  His  Bank 
must  honor  our  drafts. 

Now  this  is  the  proposition.  We  were  to  erect  and 
furnish    a    house  Uiat   would  cost  us    more  than   Fi\e 


54  Another  Cornerstone. 

Thousand  Dollars.  We  must  receive,  then,  on  every 
Saturday  for  94  weeks,  sixty  dollars,  over  and  above 
the  cost  of  caring  for  a  household  of  more  than  forty 
persons.  How  often  it  happened,  that  on  Monday 
morning,  when  the  workmen  assembled,  there  was  not 
a  dollar  in  the  treasury.  And  yet,  never  once  was  a 
hand  turned  away  unpaid  on  Saturday  night,  or  his  pay 
kept  back  for  a  single  hour.  Even  the  most  astonishing 
surprises  lose  their  force  as  they  become  the  usual  current 
of  atfairs.  But  the  demonstration  loses  none  of  its  force 
to  those  who  were  actors  here.  We  have  just  taken  it 
now  to  be  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  to  believe 
this  time  thing :  There  is  a  God  on  earth  and  he  cares 
for  us. 

We  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  Orphans'  Seminary 
in  the  presence  of  a  great  crowd  on  the  afternoon  of  our 
eighteenth  sunday-school  anniversary,  May  nth,  1882. 
We  love  thus  to  lam  our  memories  together.  Mrs. 
Thornwell,  the  venerable  widow  of  the  honored  and 
illustrious,  was  with  us.  Bell,  now  of  the  Church  tri- 
umphant, laid  the  stone  in  place.  The  01-phans  sang 
out  their  joy,  and  the  multitudes  added. 

Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings    flow, 
Praise  Him  all  creatures  here  Ijelow, 
Praise  Him  above,  ye  heavenly  host, 
Praise  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost. 


The  Year's  Close.  55 

On  the  17th  of  September,  the  last  stone  was  put  into 
the  walls,  the  masons  discharged,  and  the  carpenters 
called  in.  Six  months  of  work  condensed  into  six  lines. 
From  that  completed  wall  went  up  this  cr}-,  "  Master,  I 
need  three  thousand  dollars  more.  To  Thee  this  is 
nothing.  Lord,  open  Thy  people's  hearts  that  they 
may  pour  out  the  measure."  That  prayer  was  an- 
swered. 

We  had  received  during  the  year  $2,986.95  for  tlie 
support  fund  ;  $879.58  for  the  endowment,  and  $1,879- 
75  for  the  Orphans'  Seminary.  The  support  fund  had 
not  been  hurt  (there  were  thirty-six  orphans  nowj  by 
our  building  operations. 

This  fall  we  lost  the  services  of  our  faithful  and  affec- 
tionate matron,  Miss  Annie  Starr. 

Mrs  Lucy  Boyd,  as  full  of  energy  as  an  egg  of  meat, 
took  her  place  among  the  girls;  and  unseltish  Mrs.  Eliza 
Fuller,  among  the  boys.  Our  own  Laura  was  enrolled 
among  our  teachers.  Our  Orphanage  had  at  last  begim 
to  give  to  the  Church  a  return  for  its  money. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  BORDERS  ENLARGED. 


i 


I  TO  human  soul  can  do  a  grander 
thing  than  to  open  its  doors,  wel- 
coming the  King  of  glor}- in.  As 
each  year  went  by,  we  saw  our  children 
one  by  one,  coming  to  know  Him  as  their 
Father.  We  find  that  the  records  of  the 
church  contain  the  names  of  these  father- 
less ones  on  every  page.  It  is  a  precious 
privilege  to  be  the  means  in  God's  hands 
of  photographing  upon  the  sensitive  plate  of 
the  orphan's  heart,  the  image  of  its  Re- 
deemer. But  there  was  a  joy  for  which 
I  longed  that  was  possibl}'  even  greater 
than  this.  How  often  I  had  asked  of  m}'- 
divine  Lord  that  He  woura  give  His  Holy 
Spirit  in  such  measure  to  His  orphans  that  they  should 
be  willing  with  flaming  torches  to  illumine  tjie  way  of 
souls  to  the  cross.  When  Sam  Fulton  came  to  me,  and 
in  his  plain,  straight-forward,  matter-of-fact  waj^  told 
me  that  he  asked  no  higher  honor,  no  greater  privilege 
in  this  life  than  to  preach  the  gospel,    "  Now,"  said  I, 


'    .1  .  . 


V 


^^\^'^ 


Clinton  College.  57 

'*  Oh  Lord,  Thou  art  keeping  Thy  covenant  with  Thy 

servant."     I    had    consecrated  this  Orphanage  to    His 

Church,  pleading  most  earnestly  that  the  gift  might  be 

accepted    as    a   means   to   an    end, — and  that  end,  the 

furtherance  of  the  Lord's  work  in  this  world.     When  I 

entered  the  ministry,  I  believed  that  I  had  received  the 

highest  office  on  earth.     Eternity  will  show  that  to  tell 

men  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  privilege  that  angels  covet.     I 

now  see  no  higher  aim  for  this  Institution  than  that  it 

should  lead  its  children  to  seek  this  post  of  honor,  as 

commissioned  officers  to  herald  salvation  to  a  perishing 

w'orld. 

It  was  in  October,  1880,  that  the  same  noble  band  of 

Christian  workers  that  had  founded  the  Orphanage,  as- 
sociating others  with  themselves,  had  altered  the  title  of 
their  High-School  Association  by  striking  out  the  word 
High  School  and  inserting  College.  A  charter  was 
obtained,  and  the  Presbyterinn  College  of  South  Caro- 
lina came  into  being.  In  its  inception  it  stniggled 
wdth  many  difficulties,  against  which  our  beloved  and 
faithful  President  Lee  contended  manfully.  The  wisdom 
of  this  organization  now  became  apparent.  Mr.  Fulton 
was  enrolled  among  its  students  and  began  his  prepara- 
tory studies.  He  was  to  be  the  first  gift  of  College  and 
Orphanage  to  the  Christian  ministry. 

In  the  meanwhile    the   work   on    the  new  Orphans' 
Seminar}'  went  bravely  on.     Eighty-five  thousand   feet 


58  An  Episode. 

of  lumber,  a  ton  and  a  half  of  nails  and  a  thousand 
wagon  loads  of  stone  and  sand  were  used  in  its  construc- 
tion. Burdette  had  tied  himself  to  the  lofty  pinnacle  of 
the  steeple,  and  hanging  in  mid-air  had  set  in  its  finial, 
calling  out  at  the  same  time,  "  Yonder  the  mountains  I" 
Scott  had  swept  his  paint  brush  over  all.  Riddell 
looked  on  his  completed  job  with  a  satisfied  eye.  [Ah  ! 
he  had  won  the  heart  of  little  rosy-cheeked  Ella,  as  the 
job  went  on.  These  carpenters  need  watching!]  Al- 
ready in  our  eagerness  to  observe  a  holiday,  on  the  28th 
of  July,  (the  28th  birth-day  of  our  church).  Rev.  James 
H.  Thornwell  had  filled  our  eyes  with  tears  and  brought 
a  glow  to  our  cheeks  as  his  persuasive  eloquence  filled 
the  Chapel  at  its  dedication.  Again  orphan  voices 
rang  out,  and  orphan  prayers  filled  the  room. 

I  have  before  me  the  "black  Ledger"  in  which  were 
kept  the  accounts  for  this  building.  I  read  this  cheering 
entry 

By  cash  forward, $4,703  75 

By  Dr.  as  per  acc't.  p. 4, 700  00 

By  cash  balance, 3  75 

And  then  in  a  brave,  bold  hand,  these  lines,  unusual  in 
commercial  books,  are  added  : 

"Oh  God,  with  grateful,  humble  thanks  to  Thee  for 
all  Thy  goodness,  I  close  this  account.  Thy  love  has 
set  each  stone  of  this  building  in  its  place.  Consecrate 
the  house  and  let  its  work  be  glorious,  for  yesus'  sake.'''' 


Oov.  Hugh  S.  Thompson,  59 

On  the  I  St  of  October,  the  eleventh  3'ear  of  our  work 
ended  and  the  eighth  of  our  household  life.  The  people 
gathered  that  evening  in  crowds  to  the  Orphans'  Chapel. 
Even  the  galleries  were  a  dense  mass  of  humanity.  The 
evening  train  had  brought  in  our  honored  Governor, 
Piugh  S.  Thompson.  There  was  no  one  in  the  State 
that  we  deemed  more  suitable  than  one  whose  life  had 
been  a  life  spent  in  educating  children  and  youth,  to 
open  formally  our  school  in  its  new  home.  He  came 
amid  our  thanks  and  \N'ent  away  with  our  blessings. 

The  morrow  came  and  the  children  found  themselves 
in  new  and  better  quarters.  The  old  trampling  of  class 
on  class  was  done  away.  Each  child  knew^  his  place. 
Three  school-rooms  instead  of  one,  were  filled.  In  the 
second  story,  a  handsome  collection  was  formed  as  the 
beginning  of  a  Museum  ;  and  in  the  third,  the  "  Nellie 
Scott"  Library  already  had  a  thousand  volumes,  suited 
for  children's  reading,  on  its  shelves.  Ah  I  how  our 
children  revel  in  those  books. 

When  the  year  had  ended  and  we  counted  up  the 
gifcs  of  God's  dear  people,  we  found  that  they  had  given 
us  $2,771.25  to  provide  for  our  forty-two  children; 
$225.10  for  our  furnishing  fund  ;  and  $2,478.71  for  the 
Seminary  building.  As  I  read  over  the  list  of  those  who 
freely  gave  their  treasure  for  this  cause,  my  heart  yearns 
with  love  towards  them.     On  page  after  page,  year  fol- 


6o  Spreading  Out. 

lowing  year,  I  find  the  same  familiar  names  repeated. 
New  ones  came  in,  and  they  too  continue  on.  Some 
drop  out,  and  the  star  against  them  tells  us  that  their 
address  is  changed.  They  are  forever  with  the  Lord. 
He  who  cared  for  them  on  earth,  is  caring  for  them  in 
heaven. 

The  Seminary  was  now  built  and  occupied.  It  had 
ample  room  for  one  hundred  and  fifty^  children  ;  that 
if  Museum  and  Library  were  elsewhere  provided 
for.  Yet  our  tw^o  and  forty  children  filled  our  tw'o 
houses  even  after  I  had  moved  my  own  little  famil}'  to 
a  cottage  that  I  had  built  beyond  the  fence.  Whoever 
w^ould  read  the  signs  of  God's  dealings  with  us,  could 
see  in  them  this  foregone  conclusion,  that  we  must 
lengthen  the  cords  and  strengthen  the  stakes  of  the 
tent,  that  others  might  come  in  and  get  the  blessing. 
And  now^  events  suddenly  came  thick  and  fast  about  us. 

Before  the  paint  was  dry  upon  the  Seminary  the  busy 
bees  of  the  Home  of  Peace  were  buzzing  about  our 
ears,  "Our  kitchen,  our  Laundr}^,  our  store-room  is 
overcrowded."  The  very  sides  of  the  little  rooms  they 
used  seemed  bursting  with  the  merr}-  laughter  of  our 
little  cooks  and  washer-women.  We  had  to  build  a 
"  Bee-Hive."  A  thousand  flying  leaves  flew  from  our 
press,  and  the  winds  boie  them  North,  South,  East  and 
West.     And  then  the  winds  of  divide  love  blew  them 


It  Came  by  Chance?  6i 

back,    and  before  October  came,  half  the  thousand 
dollars  was  laid  up  in  store. 

In  August  of  that  year,  there  "happened"  (out  / 
upon  the  word  !  )  another  thing.  Again  God  touched 
a  Christian  woman's  heart,  and  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
lars came  with  earnest  of  more  to  follow,  wherewith 
to  build  another  house,  our  McCormick  Cottage! 
Never  was  the  finger  of  Gad  more  evident  than  in 
this  wise  foundation.  We  almost  saw  Him — we  did 
see  Him  in  His  providence. 

Events,  too,  were  hastening  together  in  another 
field,  that  seemed  to  call  for  this  new  house,  that  it 
might  do  its  part  in  a  new  combination. 

But  another  year  was  with  the  recording  angel.  A 
new  set  of  workers  had  taken  the  place  of  the  old. 
We  had  bidden  farewell  with  great  regret  to  Miss 
Thornwell,  (it  was  the  same  old,  old  story  of  Hymen  ;) 
and  to  our  Mrs.  Boyd,  the  very  exponent  of  good 
sense  and  energy.  Mrs.  Simonton's  unwearying 
hand  was  now  at  the  helm  of  our  domestic  affairs  ;  and 
Mrs.  Liddell  brought  her  zeal  for  knowledge  to  the 
help  of  our  orphan-school.  There  are  man}^  good 
women  in  God's  world  and  they  love  to  work. 

Our  Treasurer  reported  $3,399.26  for  the  orphans. 
$1 ,247.09  for  the  endowment ;  $425  for  the  Bee-Hive  ; 


62 


Summed  Up. 


$286.40  for  the  Orphans'  Seminary  building  fund ; 
$643.57  for  the  furnishing  fund,  and  $1500  for  the 
McCormick  Cottage.  Oh,  my  soul !  praise  thou  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  thy  God.  He  it  is  that  said, 
"  Open  thy  mouth  wide,  and  I  will  fill  it." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OUR  TWIN  SISTER. 

1WAS  sitting  one  evening  in  company  with  my  two 
friends,  M.  S.  Bailey  and  J.  W.  Copeland.  We 
had  covered,  in  our  con veisation,  the  past  history  of 
our  Orphanage,  and  the  sigh  had  escaped  me,  that 
while  we  had  cultivated  God's  orphan  vineyard, 
"mine  vineyard,  which  is  mine,"  had  I  not  kept. 
The  school  wherein  were  gathered  the  children 
church,  was  an  unsightly  barn,  and  its  advan- 
tages far  inferior  to  what  they  should  be.  Then 
was  discussed  also,  at  length,  the  value  of  the 
united  strength  that  our  twins,  the  Orphanage  and 
the  College,  might  wield  for  God,  if  their  influence 
were  thrown  togtther.  It  was  shown  that  we  could 
do  nothing  without  a  costly  building,  costly  at  least 
for  us.  Before  we  separated,  these  two  gentlemen, 
with  a  very  little  help  from  the  third,  had  subsctibed 
$1,350.  It  was  conditioned  that  the  building  should 
be  upon  the  Orphanage  premises  ;  that  it  should  be 
built  by  Clinton  capital ;  that  its  administration  should 
be  in  harmony  with  that  of  the  Orphanage  ;  that  the 
Orphanage  should  have  the  right  to  four  scholarships 
in  its  Collegiate  department,  and  that  all  candidates 


/ 


64  The  Warp  and  the  Woof, 

for  the  ministry  should  be  educated  free  of  charge. 
Thus  was  organized  a  movement  that  was  to  make 
possible  our  hope  for  the  education  of  our  orphan 
boys  in  the  higher  branches ;  to  provide  an  easy 
highway  for  those  desiring  it,  into  the  ministry  ;  and 
along  with  it  the  elevation  of  the  entire  community 
throuo-h  the  establishment  of  a  Christian  College  in 
its  midst. 

But  far  away  to  the  North  matters  were  also  focus- 
ing. Mrs.  M'Cormick  had  a  friend,  a  young  archi- 
tect of  New  York  city,  Mr,  A.  Page  Brown,  who 
through  her,  became  interested  in  our  work, — a  wheel 
within  a  wheel.  He  had  already  prepared  plans  for 
the  McCormick  Cottage.  In  the  winter  of  '  84  he 
visited  us,  and  saw  our  struggles  and  heard  our  hopes. 
Of  his  own  free  offer,  we  soon  became  possessors  of 
his  completed  plans  for  the  College,  building.  In  the 
meanwhile  the  subscription  list  had  swelled  to  over 
four  thousand  dollars. 

On  the  loth  of  February,  our  Bee-Hive  with  its 
wind-mill,  its  furnished  Laundry,  and  its  bright  new 
range,  completed  at  a  $i,goo  cost,  with  $500  for 
furnishing,  was  taken  possession  of  by  our  girls. 
One  old  gentlemen,  interested  in  apiculture,  opened 
wide  his  mouth  before  the  new  building  and  asked, 
'*  What  does  Mr  Jacobs  want  of  such  a  big  bee-hive?  " 


Mccormick  home 


3Iore  Cornerstones.  65 

Another  looked  with  awe-struck  surprise  at  the  re- 
volving wheel  of  the  wind-mill,  the  first  that  he  had 
ever  seen,  and  asked  with  a  shade  of  doubt  in  his 
voice,  "And  can  that  thing  raise  the  wind?"  He 
knows  better  now. 

On  the  15th  of  February,  the  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Hon.  C.  H.  McCormick,  Judge  J.  S.  Cothran, 
now  of  the  U.  S.  Congress,  came  to  us  amid  a  blinding- 
sleet,  and  gave  an  eloquent  address  on  the  occasion 
that  should  have  laid  the  cornerstone  of  the  McCor- 
mick Cottage.  The  stone  was  not  actually  put  in  place 
till  our  now  fiimous  festal  day,  May  28th,  when  each 
child  put  a  stone  and  a  trowel  full  of  mortar  in  the 
building,  and  together  we  sang  a  hymn  of  praise  to 
our  own  God. 

It  was  more  than  a  month  before  this  (nth  of  April), 
that  the  Presbytery  of  Enoree,  in  session  in  the  Clinton 
Church,  receded  one  afternoon  from  its  business.  There 
was  a  solemn  assembly  in  the  Orphans'  Chapel.  Rev. 
Robert  H.  Nail  (now  of  Texas)  delivered  a  glowing 
appeal  on  Presbyterian  education  ;  Rev,  B.  G.  Clifibrd, 
Moderator,  then  filled  the  box  and  gave  it  to  the  Chair- 
man of  the  building  Committee.  The  w^hole  company 
adjourned  to  the  College  site,  and  the  cornerstone  of 
the  Clinton  Presbyterian  College  at  last  w^as  laid. 
Blessed  be  God  for  that  day  ! 


66  A  Storm  of  Stones. 

x\nd  now  rang  out  the  sound  of  hammer  and  trowel. 
Our  Scott  was  in  his  element.  Hands  were  coming 
and  going.  Plans  were  spread  out  upon  the  stones,  and 
the  building  committee  puzzled  themselves  over  the 
Ureat  mass  of  such  literature  that  our  New  York  friend 
was  sending  us. 

How  often  in  the  history  of  human  lives  do  the  bitter 
providences  of  God  prove  to  be  blessings  !  We  were 
placing  the  last  trowel  full  of  mortar  on  the  completed 
College  walls.  Twenty  workmen  were  in  and  about 
them .  Then  suddenly  there  was  a  bowing  of  the  brick 
pillars  in  the  open  arches  of  the  dooi'ways.  There  v/as 
a  mighty  crash  and  a  great  cloud  of  dust.  When  this 
had  cleared  away,  our  e3^es  dazed  with  the  confusion, 
took  in  the  crushincr  fact  that  the  whole  front  of  the 
building  lay  a  mass  of  stone  and  broken  timber  on  the 
ground.  Our  first  thought  was  for  the  workmen, — 
thank  God,  not  a  hair  of  any  of  them  was  hurt.  And 
then  the  second  came,  how  shall  we  repair  this  disaster? 
Our  Master  answered  it  by  putting  into  the  hearts  of 
the  people  to  treble  the  amount  needed  for  replacing. 
Solid  stone  pillars,  filled  with  historic  associations,  for 
they  had  once  upheld  the  courts  of  justice  at  Laurens- 
ville,  now  took  the  place  of  the  brick.  We  thanked 
God  for  the  misfortime  and  that  it  came  just  when  it 
did,  instead  of  a  few  weeks,  months,  or  years  later. 


Disasters  End  in  Blessings.  67 

God's  work  was  going  011,  too,  among  the  orphans. 
Many  this  year  offered  their  hearts  to  Christ.  Another 
of  our  boys  pledged  his  hfe,  through  Presbytery,  to  the 
gospel  ministry.  The  list  of  those  who  alone  were 
supporting  an  orphan  child  was  increased  to  Nineteen. 
The  Libraiy  had  grown  to  1600  volumes.  We  had  re- 
ceived when  the  annual  meeting  came,  $4,419.96  for 
our  01-phans ;  Mrs.  McCormick  had  added  $1,050  to 
her  building  fund ;  $1,400  had  been  received  for  the 
Bee-Hive  and  other  purposes ;  $486.26  had  been  added 
to  our  endow^ment ;  a  total  of  more  than  $7,000.  Lord, 
Thou  hast  audited  the  accounts  of  that  year,  and  Thou 
knowest  how  faithfully  w^e  sought  to  make  each  dime 
do  all  that  was  latent  in  it. 


Is  the  reader  weaiy  with  thi 
How  much  more  weai 
we  with  all   that  stone  a 


CHAPTER  Xn. 

"THE   REGIONS  BEYOND." 

this  ston'? 
^ar}^  were 
and  lum- 
ber !  What  hours  of  close  and  care- 
ful planning  to  make  both  ends 
meet  I  At  length,  thank  God,  the 
work  was  done.  You,  reader, 
reach  the  consummation  easil}', — I  must  cross  a  year  to 
do  it. 

Because  there  was  an  upheaval  of  young  faces  clam- 
oring for  their  new  and  cos}'  class  rooms,  we  opened 
the  College  first.  The}-  placed  the  opening  on  March 
15th,  my  birthday.  Thus  they  told  me  that  I  was  some 
day  to  be  only  a  memory,  having  laid  down  forever  this 
busy  pen.  Wh}-  should  I  not  be  reminded  by  such  an 
incident  to 

"  Louden  my  cry  to  God,  to  men, 

And  so  fulfil  my  trust. 
I,  too,  must  lie,  breath  gone,  mouth  stopped, 

And  silent  in  the  dust !  " 

But  there  was  only  happiness    and    no    fear    of    the 
future  on  that  dav.     President  Smith  was  there,  filled 


By  One  As  Well  As  By  Another.  69 

with  his  nativ^e  earnestness.  Prot".  Lee  saw  at  last  the 
consummation  of  his  ten  years  of  hope  and  fear, — the 
hope  reahzed,  the  tear  gone.  Prof.  Barnes  seemed 
swimming  in  a  halo  of  Greek  accents  and  Latin  roots. 
The  ladies  of  the  primary  department  added  their 
charms  to  the  day.  We  dedicated  the  house  with 
praise  and  pra^^er,  and  turned  it  over  to  the  live  teach- 
ers and  a  hundred  pupils,  among  whom  were  four  of 
our  orphan  household. 

I  had  sometimes  thought  that  my  brethren  possibly 
were  right  when  they  said  that  if  I  ware  taken  away, 
this  work  might  stop.  The  Master  proved  to  me  by 
His  tender  meijpy  during  this  year,  that  He  was  using  me 
and  that  He  could  use  another  just  as  well.  A  friend 
taking  time  by  the  forelock,  sent  me  to  get  health  and 
wider  views  in  Europe.  I  was  away  for  months.  I 
returned  on  that  night  that  the  earth  throbbed  through 
all  our  coasts  and  toppled  dear  old  Charleston  from  her 
foundations.  It  was  a  joy  to  find  no  harm  wrought  at 
the  Orphanage,  and  that  God's  care  had  been  through 
all  those  months  over  our  children.  For  the  first 
August  in  twelve  years  the  treasury  was  full  and  there 
was  no  lack  of  anything.  To  the  endowment,  the  year 
had  added  $749.  The  support  fund  had  received 
$4,051.09.     The  building  fund  had  received  $1,254.74. 

It  was  not  till  the  following  January  (1886),  that  the 
great  move  was  made. 


7o  A  Moving  Time. 

All  through  the  fall  we  had  been  busy,  finishing  up 
Faith  Cottage,  painting,  plastering  and  whitewashing 
at  the  McCormick  House,  and  altering  and  adorning 
the  Home  of  Peace.  But  we  had  had  another  project 
on  foot.  We  had  gathered  up  the  remnants  of  stone 
and  stuff,  left  over  from  our  greater  building  and  were 
preparing  a  tast}-  house  of  six  rooms  for  our  Printing 
Office. 

Then  came  the  change.  Our  bo3's  marched  out  of 
their  old  home,  and  took  charge,  with  a  hymn  of  praise, 
of  their  new  and  handsome  hall.  They  spread  out  all 
over  it,  and  because  there  was  room,  other  orphan  lads 
came  and  threw  in  their  lot  with  them.  Once  more 
Kit  and  Bally  backed  their  wagon  to  the  door  and  car- 
ried their  heavy  loads  of  type  and  presses  to  the  fair 
rooms  where  they  are  yet  to  do  noble  work. 

Then  came  a  troop  of  little  ones, — we  call  them  our 
"little  delights" — and  their  sweet  faces  filled  Faith 
Cottage,  as  their  songs,  its  hall  and  passages. 

They  of  the  Home  of  Peace,  dear  girls  who  bear  the 
heavy  burden  of  the  work,  settled  down  to  steady  duty, 
and  as  I  walk  among  them  daily,  I  read  in  their  bright 
faces  lessons  about  the  dear  Lord  who  cares  for  the 
sparrows,  who  says  to  these  orphans,  yes,  to  the  hum- 
blest among  them, — "  Ye  are  of  more  value  than  many 
sparrows^" 


Out  071  the  Farm.  71 

How  quickly  fly  the  years !  October,  1887,  has 
passed.  It  left  its  precious  finiit, — a  famil}'^  of  over  50 
children,  with  teachers  and  officers,  6^,  It  found  our 
farm,  with  "Uncle  Billy"  as  the  children  call  him,  at 
the  head,  improved  with  barns,  fences,  wood-house, 
cows  with  luscious  milk,  and  golden  grain,  sweeping  in 
soft  green  waves  from  hill  to  hill.  A  thousand  dollars 
for  farm  buildings  and  the  like,  had  been  sent  in ; 
$4,551.80  for  the  orphans,  and  $1,062.45  for  the  endow- 
ment. 

I  have  said  but  little  in  these  pages  about  God's  work 
among  the  heathen.  And,  yet,  next  to  these  dear  or- 
phans, and  the  work  in  my  own  church-fold,  nothing 
lies  so  deeply  down  among  my  heart's  best  loves.  It 
was  a  joy  to  see  my  orphans  giving  their  little  mites  in- 
to the  weekly  offering.  I  was  glad  when  our  girls  came 
to  ask  permission  that  they  might  organize  a  Society  of 
their  own  ;  for  they  wanted  to  share  in  this  great  gospel 
work.  But  when  our  dear  young  brother  Fulton,  whom 
God  had  permitted  us  to  His  Church,  came  with  his 
fixed  and  settled  purpose  to  bear  the  cross  beyond  the 
Pacific  to  Japan  just  waking  from  the  sleep  of  ages, 
what  could  I  say?  Hesitate?  Resist?  Only  for  one 
moment.  Go,  dear  young  brother.  God  has  given  us 
the  glorious  honor.  The  honor  may  like  a  crown,  bear 
heavily,  but  it  is  the  King's  gift,  and  we  cry  Hallelujah  ! 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  PREFACE  OF  THINGS  TO  COME. 

[T  is  not  my  time,  but  your  patience, 
reader,  that  I  would  spare.  There  are 
a  thousand  things  that  I  would  tell  you 
of  our  daily  life.  How  often  we  boys  and 
girls  rehearse  the  incidents  of  the  passing 
da3^s.  We  walk  among  the  flowers.  We 
stroll  down  to  the  great  poplar.  We  have 
a  hundred  little  notes  to  compare  about  the  Anniversary, 
and  the  Cornerstone  day  (May  28th),  and  Commence- 
ment, and  Thanksgiving,  and  Christmas.  Oh  !  Christ- 
mas and  the  Christmas  tree  and  the  stockings,  the  fire- 
works and  the  hubbub.  It  would  take  a  book  to  tell  of 
that.  Sometimes  we  step  into  our  boys'  prayermeeting, 
or  gather  for  a  grand  singing  in  the  chapel.  Or  we 
bring  before  us  the  laughing  faces  of  the  Lucy's,  the 
Mary's,  the  Irene's,  the  Johnnie's,  the  Willie's,  the 
Minnie's,  the  Susie's,  the  Carrie's,  the  Hattie's — and — 
all  the  rest. 

I  would  like  to  tell  you  of  our  future  plans  ;  how 
we  hope  some  day  for  other  cottages  with  groups  of 
God's  own  little  ones  in  them  ;  and  for  a  neat  stone 


The  Future  73 

Library  building,  filled  with  books  and  happiness. — 
How  we  are  planning  for  a  technical  school,  where 
the  boys  will  learn  to  draw  and  model,  and  then  to 
execute  in  wood  and  iron  ;  and  the  girls  to  handle 
skilfully  pencil  and  graver,  and  to  ring  the  rapid 
clicks  on  telegraph  and  type-writer  ;  how  we  are  even 
now  building,  as  each  day  brings  the  gifts,  our  new 
Memorial  Hall,  with  our  true  friend.  Page  Brown, 
as  architect,  and  only  our  all-glorious  Treasurer  to 
provide  the  funds. 

But  I  write  out  none  of  these  things.  Part  of  them 
would  unfold  the  secrets  of  little  hearts  ;  part  would 
trench  on  prophecy,  and  part  would  be  just  the  story 
of  to-day,  which  is  not  yet  history. 

Already,  the  walls  of  the  new  building  are  nearing 
completion ; —  a  solid  granite  stnacture  that  will  at 
least  out-last  every  inhabitant  now  on  earth.  More  than 
two  thousand  dollars  have  been  spent  upon  it ;  nearly 
that  sum,  of  which  hardly  a  dollar  is  on  hand,  will  yet 
be  needed.  The  work  will  not  stop.  That  is  the 
Lord's  method  of  dealing  with  us. 

As  we  finish  this  book,  the  thirteenth  year  of  our 
orphan-work  is  ending.  It  has  been  a  year  of  grace. 
Many  of  our  children  have  found  Jesus  to  be  their  own 
Saviour.  God's  people  have  provided  for  them.  For 
our  farm  buildings ;  they  gave   $588.72,  for  the  Memo- 


74  'I'he  Last  Year  was  the  Best. 

rial  Hall,  $2,056.11.  To  the  endowment,  the  little 
people  of  the  Sabbath-school  added  $751.41,  while  for 
the  care  of  our  seventy-two  souls,  $5,533.64  were 
poured  into  our  Treasury. 

It  suits  us  better,  in  these  closing  lines,  to  turn  your 
thoughts  away  from  the  work  and  the  workers  to 
your  God  and  our  God, — and  to  ask  you  now,  as  you 
lay  down  this  book,  have  we  not  proved  our  cause? 
Is  it  not  true  that  there  is  a  King  in  heaven,  and  that 
King,  our  Father  who  careth  for  us? 

Never  was  truer  word  spoken  than  the  assurance  the 
Psalmist  took  to  himself,  "I  am  poor  and  needy,  yet 
the  Lord  thinketh  upon  me."  It  v^as  a  profound  faith 
in  this  sentiment  that  inspired  the  builders  of  this  Or- 
phanage. It  is  the  assurance  we  have  of  his  presence 
that  maintains  the  work  day  by  day.  We  have  ceased 
to  recognize  any  element  of  doubt  in  this  proposition. 
It  has  become  to  us  an  axiom.  Others  may  doubt. 
For  us,  to  doubt  would  be  a  crime. 

Reader,  have  you  ever  doubted  Him?  If  ever  you 
are  tempted  so  again,  I  beg  you  step  off  the  train  at 
Clinton.  Look  southward.  You  see  a  tower  just  to 
the  right  of  the  stieet,  and  a  square  building  appar- 
ently closing  the  avenue.  Step  briskly  toward  them. 
Lift  the  latch  and  enter  the  gate.     You    pass    house 


Almighty  God  Careth  for  Me. 


75 


after  house,  whose  names  are  now  familiar  to  you, 
and  you  hear  the  ring  of  hammer  and  trowel  on  our 
new  building.  And  now  as  you  lay  your  hand  on 
the  gray  granite  or  the  glittering  flint  of  these  houses, 
say  to  yourself,  It  is  as  true  as  this  solid  stone  on 
which  my  hand  resteth,  that  Almighty  God  careth 

FOR  ME. 


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